By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Jonathan Glapion with Todd McFarlane (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors), Comicraft (letters) & Jen Cassidy (editor)
The Story: The first story-arc kinda wraps up as Haunt and his allies storm Hurg’s base, plus some nice character moments after the smoke has cleared and a tease for the next story.
What’s Good: Even though I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this first story arc on Haunt, I’m happy to see it come to an end. One of the things that drives me bananas about “creator-owned” comics is when they have one really cool story idea and then the creators torture the hell out of that story for way too long. Kirkman could have milked this story for another 12-issue cycle, and I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of some of these bad-guys, but I appreciate that he’s moving the story along. And, what a cool ending it was. Seeing Haunt and his paramilitary allies storying Hurg’s base was really exciting.
We also get a lot of good character stuff in this issue. “Character stuff” is not really the calling card for this series, but it is nice to reflect on how these characters have changed and grown since issue #1. Daniel is now a full-fledged operative who has the respect of everyone, he and Kurt have buried the hatchet, he has friends (male and female) and is just a more 3D character than the cigarette-smoking priest who sleeps with hookers that made a lot of people groan last fall when this series launched.
Capullo’s art continues to be top notch. He gets most of his kudos for the big action scenes where you’ve got Haunt leaping around with ectoplasm, guts, blood and shell casings flinging all over, and there is plenty of that in the first half of this issue. But, if you take a second to look at his story-telling skills in the more character driven second part of this issue, you can see that it’s really awesome too. It’s just a steady stream of different perspectives, variable panel designs, backgrounds/no-backgrounds, panel borders, etc. that direct your eyes through the story. Nice!
And the new “villain” – Apparation – also looks like something that Capullo can draw the hell out of. Can’t wait to watch Haunt fight that guy!
What’s Not So Good: I mean this as no slight against Jonathan Glapion, but I kinda wish that Todd McFarlane could be the regular inker on this series. For all the acclaim that’s he’s gotten in different areas of comics, I think he’s a really gifted inker and one of the few inkers where even an untrained bozo like me can see his personality shining through. C’mon dude! I know you’re busy, but just ink this one issue per month! 🙂
From a story standpoint, this comic has too many characters. For example, I had a hard time remembering who Daniel’s girlfriend was in this issue when she is introduced to his new roommate. And there’s also a scene in the sick bay where they touch base with “Director Tosh” and I’d completely forgotten who she was and how she ended up injured (shot? blown-up? mugged?). We also follow back up with Kurt’s widow and while she has had an important role in this series for her relationships with Daniel and Kurt, I think she’s kinda played her part. And, there’s Kurt’s new nerd-friend and the fat-coworker. This crowded cast of characters means that interesting characters like Mirage are kinda squeezed out.
Conclusion: Haunt is just fun comic books. Even in the few places where Kirkman has too many toys out at one time, the basic story is clear and easy to follow. It was also neat to see a story-arc kinda wrap up and I’m definitely interested to see this new story. And as always Capullo’s art rocks!
Grade: B
-Dean Stell
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Conclusion