By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Fernando Dagnino (artist), Santi Arcas (colorist)
The Story: You know, he’s just as sick and tired of dying as you are of killing him.
The Review: The biggest problem with this series so far has been its relentless repetition. Each issue has featured Mitch’s death and subsequent resurrection, a slice of cheesecake and violence from the Body Doubles, and some supernatural mumbo-jumbo from celestial forces either above or below. This has made the title feel rote and predictable, a death mark for any ongoing series.
In a lot of ways, this issue continues to fill that tiresome mold, which needs to change, pronto. Every scene features at least a couple characters mentioning points that DnA have already well established, whether it’s the Body Doubles on their resilience (“We’re posthuman. Waaay beyond your crude cybernetic junk. Waaaaay beyond.”) or Suriel on Mitch’s prized soul (“…so frighteningly overdue, so staggeringly mortgaged, the note has been passed up to the most extreme collection agency of all.”).
But this time around, we also get a few redeeming reveals that give the plot a bit of a kick. The most important is Bonnie implying that Mitch and the Body Doubles were once possibly on the same side: “…I used to respect you. For your work, and everything.” And when Suriel later reveals that the Doubles work as “enforcers for one of the darkest sectors of America’s military-industrial complexes,” you can see how it connects to Mitch’s past military work, as recalled by Mr. Roth in #2.
Speaking of whom, another major twist in the story comes when Mr. Roth—or the Transhuman, as he’d prefer to be known—divulges the fact that his fancy-pants suit runs on his own life-force and that he’s actually “nineteen years old!” While it’s not clear how DnA plan to incorporate this rather weird turn of events into the story, but at least it ensures the Transhuman will remain a fixture of this title for a while, until his aging problem gets resolved, one way or another.
Yet all this is still earthly chaos, as the appearance of Suriel reminds you. Honestly, her presence does nothing for the plot, except confirm her existence to Mitch’s supporting cast. Otherwise, she once again launches into Mitch’s unnatural escape from the usual order of the universe, and employs some “extreme prejudice” in her attempts to take him in. By now, the pattern of events has gotten so recognizable that I won’t even consider this a spoiler, but the issue ends once again on Mitch’s death, albeit more seemingly complete than before.
Dagnino is still the best asset this title has, mostly in his credible character designs and terrific expressions. He continues to have some problems with perspective, as many of the characters look unnaturally tall and seem to change in size at various points of the issue. And even though he mostly does fine on the action sequences, his martial artistry often looks clumsy, stiff, and awkward, like Carmen’s split-kick in response to the Transhuman’s ground punch.
Conclusion: While the goodly number of plot-turns makes this an improvement over previous issues, the repetitive nature of the story saps whatever excitement DnA manage to generate. There’s only so much more I can take before I relegate this series to the Dropped List.
Grade: C+
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – It’s worth mentioning that the Body Doubles report to a Director Hooker, a man with a disfigured mug that gives Two-Face a run for his money.
– Apparently, the angels of Heaven are really getting into the Lady Gaga style of fashion.
Grade
Conclusion