By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Fernando Blanco (artist), Santi Arcas (colorist)
The Story: Don’t think of it as dying, Mitch—think of it as God asking you out on a date.
The Review: It’s been hard to take Resurrection Man seriously, both as a character and as a hero. A lot of it has to do with his very conception. I’ve said this before, but the idea of a hero who seemingly can’t die takes out half the tension of the story, and the fact that Mitch has no memory of who he is and thus no connections which can be threatened means another huge chunk of tension is lost as well.
And if most of the tension is gone, all you have left is a bunch of things happening without any feeling of investment in them. I don’t know about you, but that’s how I feel about almost every plotline running through this series. The stuff about Heaven and Hell fighting over Mitch’s soul has become so redundant, and with so little point, that you almost wish either one will finally get it in their grasp so as to introduce a little bit of conflict into the story.
The use of the Transhuman and Body Doubles also feels bland and empty. The Body Doubles have added little to the title except for a little exposition and a lot of cheesecake, and the Transhuman, aside from a couple interesting beats, has offered even less. This issue sees them doing almost nothing at all, and with Mitch out of the picture, they seem at a loss of what to do with themselves, other than futilely attacking Suriel (for revenge, I suppose?).
When I say Mitch is out of the picture, I mean he’s no longer active in the present story. Obviously, with a title like Resurrection Man, it’d be a major misnomer if he actually managed to die for good in the fifth issue, so have no fear—he comes back. And that’s exactly what I mean about the lack of tension. When last issue ended with Suriel pouting that she might have killed him permanently this time, you knew that couldn’t possibly be true, so the fact Mitch comes back this time is no surprise at all.
At least DnA deliver some interesting and crucial backstory. From the bits and pieces Mr. Roth and Bonnie have given us, we know Mitch had some kind of military background and was involved in some highly obscure scientific research, but now we see rather than being a passive worker, he was a director of some extremely questionable human experiments (which, predictably enough, ties into the powers of the Body Doubles and Resurrection Man himself).
You also get a good glimpse of Mitch’s former personality, which in contrast to his current, mild-mannered self, was completely without merit: cowardly, petty, selfish, callous, and mostly indifferent to human feeling (“Take him off the support.” “…He’s dead, sir.” “I just wanted to see if it would work.”). If you want to find one reason to like R. Man, take comfort in the fact that his many resurrections seem to have washed away the contemptible jag he used to be.
In this issue, we exchange on Fernando’s art for another’s. If Blanco is not the equal of Dagnino, at the very least he’s not Dagnino’s cipher. He may be a little rougher on the line, but the effect is in no way unbecoming, and it actually gives more of an edgier, darker cred to the title than before, especially since Arcas delivers the same earthy palette of colors as he did on previous issues. Once again, we see this is a series where the art far surpasses the writing it portrays.
Conclusion: I’ve given this title a fair shake, and while the story has potential, the characters have all failed to make a connection with me, making it hard to care what happens to them one way or another. Dropped until further notice.
Grade: C+
- Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: - As someone who’s worked with mental illness, I take issue with the doctors in this issue. Really, because he’s raving from trauma, you’re just going to send him to an asylum by default? I’m also not thrilled when one of them remarks, “At least he quit raving. Talk about crazy…” Way to be sensitive/political correct, guys!
Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Andy Lanning, Body Doubles, Dan Abnett, DC, DC Comics, Fernando Blanco, Mitch Shelley, Resurrection Man, Resurrection Man #5, Resurrection man #5 review, Santi Arcas, Suriel, Transhuman
