My Greatest Adventure #1 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Robotman versus zombies!  Garbage Man finds religion!  Tanga stands up for virtue!

The Review: For my thoughts about the structure of this series, check out my review of Weird Worlds #1.  While still taken with the concept of a multiple-feature series, I don’t really support DC’s execution of it, especially where they limit it to a six-issue mini.  When you do the math, six issues, each sporting three features of relatively equal length, means each feature essentially produces a cumulative two issues at the end of six months.  What is this, S.H.I.E.L.D.?

The effects of this strict, finite length rears its head in subtle ways.  Take Matt Kindt’s “Robotman.”  While he manages to barrel the plot forward in good time, taking our hero, Cliff Steele, from in control to nearly disassembled in the span of ten pages, you can’t help feeling a lot of rush went into the writing.  Some scenes get cut off before they get a chance to build, like the intimate moment between Cliff and assistant Maddy Rouge (he literally takes off  in the middle of the conversation).  A couple times, we get facts thrown in so hastily, even Kindt can’t seem to keep them straight (is it Mrs. Turing’s brother or husband that’s missing?).  But all in all, you get great, Silver Agey fun: the robotic animals, Cliff’s HQ in the “Uncanny Valley,” and Cubans controlled by nanite rice.  Kolins’ strength definitely lies in retro sci-fi; his Robotman looks advanced, but still old-school bulky, and everything else has a clean, almost comic strip liveliness, with Atiyeh bringing more vibrant colors than he’s ever brought anywhere before.

When we last left Garbage Man, he was still making his way slowly—very slowly—to Gotham City, where, theoretically, his real adventure would begin.  So far, he’s only managed to meet with his “maker” (a sequence that came a bit too early in the series’ life) and have a rather underwhelming tiff with a werewolf.  The rest of the feature had G. Man seeking out a woman of his past (who no one, much less his wife, should believe “is just my assistant!”), and this issue has more of the same.  Aaron Lopresti really hasn’t done much to move the story anywhere interesting, though again, he uses the feature to show off just how dramatic and stylish his art can be.  Colorist John Kalisz has no small part in this, as his earthy colors lend a seriousness that none of the cartoony garishness of Justice League International can offer.  At the end of the day, G. Man is basically a Swamp Thing analogue, and now that Swamp Thing is back in a hit series, no less, this tepid homage just seems watered down and redundant.

The final and also returning feature is “Tanga,” who starts the story by continuing where she left off in the last issue of Weird Worlds.  For a good, long time Kevin Maguire has relied on his star character’s outgoing personality and sense of humor to keep you rolling with the series.  But that never fooled anyone into overlooking how devoid of direction the plot seems.  We still know almost nothing about our lavender protagonist.  While her encounters with the creepy, obviously suspect behavior of Za and P’nigh (“…perhaps there’s something that can be done to help re-energize you.  If you’ll tell me the source of your power…”) offer some laughs, they do nothing to elaborate on her past or develop her future.  Without a multitude of aliens hanging around, Maguire (and mistress of psychedelic colors Rosemary Cheetham) doesn’t get to show off his genius for alien design like before, but he shows enough to place him as a space opera artist of the first degree.

Conclusion: Engaging art brightens the otherwise uninspired writing and problematic format.  The title continues to be a much better idea in theory than in practice.

Grade: C+

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – There is something very unnerving about a person who smiles as he talks dirt on you: “If you beg me for forgiveness now, then perhaps I will refrain from inflicting harsh punishment on you.”  Sounds like an ex of mine, actually.  Or my mother.

– Also check out our chat with Aaron Lopresti here and here.