By: James Tynion IV & Scott Snyder (story), Guillem March (art), Tomev Morey (colors)
The Story: What is this, a meeting group for recovering assassins?
The Review: It’s funny what a difference of a few months can make. Of the Third Wave DC titles I cover, Team Seven started with the most promise, Sword of Sorcery made a solid showing, and I had major doubts about Talon. Now, things have upended quite nicely; Team Seven has become a title I dread reading, Sword of Sorcery continues to perform up to standard, and Talon has lately shown signs of dependable fun.
Last issue made a stronger case for a team-up between Calvin and Sebastian versus the Court, though it still left me feeling like I was reading a highly elaborate epilogue to the Night of the Owls storyline. Here, Talon finally starts moving away from being a mere spin-off and coming into its own as an individual series. At least, the potential for greater originality is there; we’ll see how Tynion executes as time goes on.
Tynion makes a surprising, respectable move in this issue by quickly making Casey Washington a major player in the series. Not content with fiddling her thumbs as the damsel-in-distress, she actually proves in many ways to be far more proactive in dealing with the Court than her supposed protector, and her mission clearly has a far bigger scope than even Sebastian’s.
Through Casey and her operations group, Tynion overcomes two major problems in the title. First, since Casey dismisses the idea that she’s helpless without Calvin, this gives the former Talon a reason to fight the Court beyond simple concern for his wards. Second, Casey’s gang doesn’t just fight the Court; they fight all kinds of secret, power-grabbing, intimidating groups, and this gives Calvin a bigger range of opponents to use his talents on.
Another thing Casey provides to the series: a whole slew of supporting characters. At some point, sooner rather than later, the duo adventures of Calvin and Sebastian would lose their appeal. The new blood not only invigorates the pace and energy of the series, it also gives it a distinctly Ocean’s Eleven air. This issue gives you essentially a bank heist, with Calvin working alongside ex-henchmen from the League of Assassins, Basilisk, and the Five Families, among other DC crime gangs. And with both Sebastian and Casey calling shots together from the cockpit, suddenly the whole book looks and sounds a lot more entertaining.
Say what you like about March, but he has an inimitable style and no one draws anything remotely like him. His trademark boldness is on full display in this issue. Facial expressions always verge on being over-the-top, and March pushes them even more with frequent close-ups. On the flip-side, man, he can draw some intense action scenes. Keep in mind that he doesn’t even do anything particularly fancy in his storytelling, but his figures have such flair that even when they’re hardly doing anything, you can feel the tension coiled in their bodies. Morey’s colors manage to give March’s lines nice weight and tone without bogging down their naturally sleek appearance.
Conclusion: If this issue is an example of what we can expect to come from Talon, then it may prove itself as more than just a cravenly exploitive series.
Grade: B
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – One unsettling observation: if Casey has the means and know-how to hack into Sebastian’s supposedly top-class secured line, that means other, better-resourced groups can do it too, no?
Grade
Conclusion