Review: Telos #1

by Max Eber
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Telos  is free from his bonds and seeks redemption and his family in Telos #1 written by Jeff King, pencils by Carlo Pagulayan & Sean Parsons, Telos-001-(2015)-(Digital-Empire)-010

Telos spends most of the issue confronting a weakened Braniac, seeking to destroy him over deceit. Braniac plays a good game in diffusing the newly freed entity, convincing him he made mistakes due to corrupted memory and there is a way things can be fixed. Parts of this may indeed but true but by issues end it’s clear Braniac has a bargain and as he send him off on a mission, it’s certainly sending Telos into a trap.

POSITIVES

To be honest I  was only marginally interested in Convergence which has from what I can tell only has had limited lasting effects besides reassuring everyone that the old universes all still technically exist

The heavy involvement of alien technology, Braniac and Computo etc, certainly does give the book a distinct feel unique to DC’s more retro future focused titles of yore but in a double edged sword it also looks rather dated and the art does nothing to show that it’s aiming for a retro-futuristic look and is simply just standard comic art.

NEGATIVESTelos-001-(2015)-(Digital-Empire)-021

The same as above in regards to art as well as premise. Even Lobo has elements of redemption despite the carnage. This just feels like such an odd choice to do for a series (or mini-series)? Is there an audience for more of Telos? Can you expect this to sell over 25 k a month? Who are buying these comics? I don’t want to seem cynical or too dismissive as the comic is good in a standard run-of-the-mill comic sense but there is little longevity here. This is exactly what keeps the big two slipping in sales (to a degree), or at the least contributes to the medium who is struggling to stay afloat. The strange thing is DC know what it needs to do (hey look at all these kids and teens) such as the explosive success that Harley Quinn is and how the revamp of Batgirl has helped it stay within the 30k range.  Why do they keep turning back to the same old filler? Is this really needed?

VERDICT

If you are invested in Convergence and like to see redemption arcs, this will be right up your alley. It’s not terrible, what’s here isn’t offensive to read nor is the art too much of anything other than competent, but it’s such a normal and heavy book (as this is a direct sequel) it really doesn’t feel like it’s particularly special either. DC needs to push more stylistically. I know they have been and that’s great, but they need to do it even more.

3outof5

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