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THE POWER COMPANY STRIKER Z #1
"Golden Element Warrior II"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Pencils: Ramon F. Bachs
Inks: Raul Fernandez
Colors: Gloria Vasquez
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Though I
really like the idea of the character who stars in this introductory one-shot, I
found the actual story itself a bit lacking, let down by some artwork that
wasn't to my taste, a guest star who I don't much care for and an origin story
that didn't really seem to merit the entire 22-page story. However, the basic
concept of the character is a strong one, and though Busiek's take on Hong Kong
felt a little one-dimensional, I enjoyed the use of Hong Kong action-style
cliches as window dressing.
Given that the basic idea
behind these various one-shots is to introduce the members of the Power Company,
I'd have to say the issue is a success. I get a sense of Striker Z's powers and
personality from the story, and I thought his powers were a nifty take on the
energy-manipulation abilities that many super-heroes possess. Busiek has given
his character a lot of flexibility with these abilities.
I also enjoyed the setting of
Hong Kong, particularly the Hong Kong film scene, since it has become such a pop
cultural hotspot in recent years. The humorous take on movie titles and
characters was cheesy, but no cheesier than the source material it was gently
parodying, and it made for some fun side effects. On the other hand, I was
reminded very much of early work by Stan Lee, where the foreign country would
lack any distinctive personality of its own, serving mostly to highlight cliched
American perceptions of the setting and the people there, and I don't get much
of a feeling from Striker Z that he is from Hong Kong... he seems just like
every all-American character I've read.
Part of that comes from a
somewhat vanilla approach to the storytelling from artists Bachs and Fernandez.
Rather than using camera angles and style similar to the Hong Kong movies or
simply providing a more detailed setting, they give us a generic bunch of
skyscrapers and backlots, and a villain who isn't the most impressive of visual
designs either. The storytelling fundamentals and basic artwork is fine, if a
little cartoony for my taste, but it lacks any kind of energy, and that doesn't
help to overcome my impression of the issue as somewhat bland.
What we have here is a perfectly acceptable, average super-hero comic. However, Busiek is capable of better, as demonstrated this very week with the much stronger Josiah Power one-shot. Striker Z is a great character,
but I expect he will be much more enjoyable alongside the rest of the characters
of The Power Company.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board. |
