Marvel has already tapped Crimson Dynamo scribe John Jackson Miller to take over Iron Man, so they must have seen something they really liked in upcoming issues of this series. I say upcoming, because I found this first issue pretty disappointing, with some neat ideas that could come to fruition in future issues but an approach that generally didn't strike a chord with me. Like so many Marvel titles lately, it's a slow starter, spending a lot of time on character development that could pay off down the road but which results in a somewhat boring first issue.
Miller's story focuses on Gennady, a Russian teen who works a crappy job in a warehouse that leads him to a most unusual and exciting discovery. It's sort of an older character version of what Sean McKeever is doing over in Sentinel, the high-tech dangers of the Marvel Universe infringing upon mundane life. The big difference, at least theoretically, comes with the setting of Russia, but Miller doesn't really do a convincing Russian environment. Just dropping in Russian names doesn't give the book a foreign flavor, and Gennady comes across as a thoroughly Americanized teen. Actually, it more comes across as someone who was born and raised in America, making him just another teen stereotype instead of a more interesting lead character.
The story plays out along predictable lines. Gennady has an unpleasant home life, work life and school life, and so he really needs something exciting to shake things up. When he gets it, he reacts like a little kid with a new toy (something Miller does foreshadow with a clever little bit early on), which provides one of the most fun sequences in the book. Though Miller's use of pop culture references as attempts at humor fall flat during the sequence, the notion of Gennady treating the Dynamo's actions as essentially not real has chilling and interesting implications. In addition, Steve Ellis's bulky, outdated design for the Dynamo seems a perfect product of the crumbling Soviet economy, probably the best flavor touch from the setting in the entire book.
I don't really have a problem with books that focus on the mundane aspects of life, as this first issue of Crimson Dynamo does. However, I do have a problem when the writer's take on mundane life doesn't ring true, because it makes it really hard to get involved in the story. Miller's dialogue, especially from Gennady, feels a bit cutesy and overwritten to me when he's speaking, and it feels like a clumsy burst of exposition in the IM chat early on. I do like that Gennady's English is a little rough, with dropped transition words, when he's typing, but that he speaks fluent English when talking, which strikes me as a sort of Hunt for Red October-esque instant translation of all Russian, a neat trick for a comic set in a foreign country, but I wish that the dialogue overall were stronger.
Ellis and colorist Thomas Mason provide artwork that I would describe as solid, with occasional flashes of something more. The style is reminiscent of Brian Hurtt, with touches of Phil Bond, and the storytelling is strong throughout. There is a slightly confusing sequence where one part of the story is taking place at Gennady's house and a related part is taking place at a Siberian military base, but a second reading clarified what the creative team was going for, and I can see where it would have been a clever little bit of storytelling had it worked out better.
