By John Mahoney and Filip Sablik (writers), Thomas Nachlik (art), Troy Peteri (letters)
[Small spoiler warnings in effect–this review will give away the ‘twist’ at the end of the story, though it’s nothing that will surprise anyone even passingly familiar with the premise of the book.]
What’s Good: The idea of immortality has fascinated human beings for much of our history. It’s a gift associated with heroes and gods–either a result of divine birth or (occasionally) granted as an ultimate reward for a great deed.
But what if immortality wasn’t given to anyone godly or heroic at all? What if immortality just…happened?
That’s the situation that small-time crook Alec King finds himself in, following a disastrous attempt to help his best friend commit a far more heinous and complicated crime than either of them are used to. Interestingly, this first issue doesn’t deal with the consequences of Alec’s immortality at all yet, and instead serves as both an origin story, and as a primer to get to know our main character and what makes him tick. While I was surprised by the lack of…I guess…”immortal-ness”…in the issue, I wasn’t at all disappointed. The book sets up the characters (and Alec in particular) so well, and the action is so taught, intense and well-paced, that I was perfectly happy to let the story carry me along. When the denouement finally happens in the last two pages, it feels like a natural outgrowth of the story established to that point–and it’s impact is much stronger for it.
I’ll admit right up front that I’m not a particular fan of black and white comics, but the strong contrasts, and Nachlik’s moody pencils in particular, capture the aesthetic of this brooding, often despairing, world perfectly. The strong shadows and bright lights lend many panels an almost noirish feel that greatly complements the crime-drama aspects of the story, while the stark nature of ink-on-page allows for a cold, detached quality that serves to enhance Alec’s feelings of desperation and isolation. It couldn’t be more different from the sort of lavish, detailed and colorful J.H. Williams III pages I’m usually drawn to, but this kind of simple, clean, colorless art even I can get behind.
What’s Not So Good: Very little to pick on here. Were I writing the book, I’d have chosen to leave out the prolog, and just started the action right on page six. Since we have a replay of that introductory scene at the end anyway it feels extraneous, and the writing and characters in this book are strong enough that forcing in an artificially dramatic hook at the start is just plain unnecessary.
Conclusion: A fantastic start for this mini-series. One issue in, and I’m already saddened that there’s only three more to go. If the creative team keeps things at this level, though, I have no doubt that an ongoing book will be in the works shortly.
Grade: A
– SoldierHawk
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