By Kevin VanHook (1st feature writer), Jerry Oroway (1st feature artist), Pete Pantazis (1st feature colorist), Aaron Lopresti (2nd feature writer/penciller), Matt Ryan (2nd feature inker), Dave McCaig (2nd feature colorist), Kevin Maguire (3rd feature writer/artist), Rosemary Cheetham (3rd feature colorist)
The Story: In the first feature, Lobo once again rises from the dead to prove how badass he is. In the second, Garbage Man’s origins prove he’s definitely no Captain America in the super-soldier department. In the third, Tanga, the bubbly purple alien, seeks to discover if true companionship exists in this great wide universe.
The Review: Weird Worlds is an interesting bag in the world of comics. It brings to mind the annual format in its use of multiple short features. It also bears traces of DC’s experiment with Wednesday Comics, since its features aren’t self-contained, but continue their stories from month to month (at least until the miniseries’ sixth, and last, issue). Weird Worlds faces the obstacle of generating enough activity in each of its story chunks to keep the readers interested, but the efforts so far have a lot of potential.
The weakest feature stars the biggest-name character, sadly enough. Lobo as an over-the-top caricature of Wolverine got him some inexplicable popularity in the nineties. Post new millennium, his appearances have been restricted to guest shots in DC’s space titles, which is for the best, I have to say. What else can you do other than riddle him with a multitude of gaping holes which no one should be able to survive, but which he inevitably always does? Then he rains some major-league fragging on his opponents, touched by some always charming trash talk, and that’s about it. Unless Kevin VanHook can give him a serious challenge in upcoming issues, you’re bound to get more of what you expect from Lobo, and not much else. Jerry Oroway supports the feature with some appropriately gory art and packed action, but there’s nothing here to especially praise.
The tale of Garbage Man’s origins sells a lot better, and most of that is due to Aaron Lopresti’s storytelling choices. Instead of forcing his characters to talk about what’s happened, he uses a flashback of events to fill you in. Lopresti also uses some very bold dialogue to give personality to his characters, especially the flippantly amoral Doctor Clive. Garbage Man’s voice reeks of the eighties style of stating the obvious (“Did that guy just run me over with his car? I hardly felt anything. It’s just not possible.”), but it works here, since the character pays tribute to that era’s horror tales, particularly Alan Moore’s work on Swamp Thing. Lopresti’s own art is a huge boon to the feature’s value; his lines are clean and detailed and his paneling paces his storytelling perfectly. Matt Ryan’s inks add depth, but never muddy Lopresti’s pencils, while Dave McCaig’s colors make lively scenes pop and moody scenes subdued.
Since Kevin Maguire’s story features only new character Tanga throughout, it’s especially important he make her as appealing as possible—not just in her design, but her personality. He’s mostly successful; Tanga’s cheeriness just seems fresh against all the strident, brooding females of most sci-fi comics. Her animated monologues drop a lot of hints about Tanga’s adventurous past, which bodes well for what Maguire has planned for her. And just when you think you can’t take any more of her bouncy babblings, Maguire wisely pumps up the action in a big way. In those few explosive scenes, Tanga reveals she’s not all talk (thank God), but she’s capable of some serious edginess and intelligence. Maguire has some pretty sci-fi designs (his drawing of a space probe looks especially credible), although his planetary concepts are mostly barren and lack detail. But his facial expressions for Tanga are what really help to sell the character; there’s a lot of nuances to her features that pep up her dialogue and make her quite adorable for a space bimbo. And if outer space actually had the vibrant colors Rosemary Cheetham brings to this feature, I imagine space tourism would seem a lot more inviting.
Conclusion: Two out of three—that’s not so bad. And it’s not as if the one feature was awful—just predictable. This series successfully introduces some intriguing brand new characters and enriches DC’s somewhat neglected cosmic and horror territory. There’s a lot of fun to be had here; let’s hope the series continues to live up to its promise.
Grade: B+
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – Despite Maguire dressing Tanga in the most ridiculously campy outfit I’ve seen on a space babe in a while, I have to praise him for giving her some actually believable cleavage.
– Okay, I have to admit, Lobo using someone’s jaw in lieu of brass knuckles is all kinds of twisted awesomeness.
– If DC lets Lopresti get away without an exclusive contract after that amazing splash page of Garbage Man bursting through the ground, that would just be sad.
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Conclusion