By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Andy Smith (penciller), Keith Champagne (inker), Pete Pantazis (colorist)
The Story: It’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, monster style.
The Review: One of the oldest tales in storytelling history is the journey to the Promised Land, the place which holds all the answers the questers seek. Though some may argue the journey itself offers the greatest spirit of adventure and the most relatable value, at times the destination winds up the real climax of the story. Many characters discover upon arrival that their struggles up to that point were only a prelude to their greatest conflict yet.
And so it goes with Frankenstein’s team when they reach Romania, where many questions that have dogged them all along finally do clear up. But as with any good mystery, the revelations come with some significant fallout, leaving none of the Creature Commandos untouched in its life-altering consequences.
For Frankie and Bride, their futures pose the most uncertainty, but wherever they end up, you can take a lot of comfort in that they’ll be together. Despite their ruthless vocations, the couple has a surprisingly potent, albeit low-key, chemistry. Frank, being the strong, silent type, doesn’t exactly cuddle his wife, and she won’t wins any awards for cutesiness (“Holy #$&*!!”), but they nonetheless have an endearing devotion to each other, even when the chips come down.
Griffith, like Captain America, volunteered to serve his country by a transformative military experiment, only he got rewarded with a silver bullet in the chest. Thankfully, Nina’s daddy goes against the mad-scientist type, working to save Griff’s life and make good on his old promise to the werewolf at the same time. And even though he admits to lying about Nina’s origins, he was purely motivated by wanting someone to love, which he’s done sincerely. This makes little difference to Nina’s body image issues, but she’ll find them easier to bear with the colorblind affection of Griffith, who remains a romantic, regardless of what form he takes.
In comics, where characters run into death on a casual basis, you’re not inclined to care about the fade-out of a supporting character in a three-issue mini. But Velcoro’s fall comes as a blow, a testament to Lemire’s great character work. This guy started as a criminal who chose vampirism to escape execution, and to see him grow so attached to his teammates, enough to use his life to save them because he “didn’t want to be a coward anymore…” is quite moving.
Everything with the Commandos feels like gold, but everything else falls a bit flat. The big tussle with JAKE II, which serves most of the issue’s action, does nothing for the story as the robot (not unlike Windows Vista) is only a superfluous upgrade to its predecessor. As for Maria Shrieve, she pretty much exhausted her use last issue, and here she feels out of place and unnecessary, her sudden decision to ally herself with our heroes yielding limited benefits.
Smith doesn’t have Ibraim Roberson’s intense realism, but he gives the characters an appreciable depth and seriousness along the lines of Dale Eaglesham’s work. Once the action starts, his limitations come into plain view, as he provides a very stiff, uninspired sense of movement, further dampened by streaky, blobby depictions of energy and settings.
Conclusion: The plot itself disappoints in some ways, but Lemire proves the concept of a monster super-team, a teaser of what to look forward to in Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
Grade: B
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – And where’s Bride’s backup in all this? Surely that big of an aircraft can’t just hold Bride and a S.H.A.D.E. pilot? And Bride, you seriously need to pack more heat than four handguns. You don’t want to get into a sticky, Lara Croft situation.
– If werewolves, vampires, and lagoon people can all learn to get along, what does that say about the rest of us humans?
Grade
Conclusion