[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Jon Davis-Hunt
Summary
Angela flies to a place called, and this is not a joke, “Camp Hero.” She must think she is safe, but if we have learned anything from the first issue, no one is safe and nothing is secret. It is only a matter of a few hours before everyone knows where she is and sends people after her. IO sends out a strike team set to kill. Halo sends in Grifter (along with a few other badass ladies) to bring her in alive. Skywatch sends Lucy, AKA Zealot, to investigate Jacob Marlowe (head of HALO) because Angela is a flying robot who saved him. So, you know, good times.
Positives
The first six pages of this book have one line of dialogue. I am not saying that Warren Ellis is bad at dialogue, in fact, he is pretty good, but those six pages are totally told by Jon Davis-Hunt’s beautiful artwork. Angela looks a bit like the hunter in the Predator movies and she does as much damage. There are splintering walls, and run down rooms and misery. Honestly, I spent as much time on those six pages as I did on any of the pages full of dialogue. There is a lot of sitting around talking in this issue, so Davis-Hunt has less to do there. Here, he keeps us busy and keeps us enthralled.
OK, I get that I just explained that there is a lot of sitting around talking. You might think that means that this book is boring, but no. Far from it. Considering there are so many moving parts, sometimes, there is a need for some sitting around talking. The plot, as you can see from the summary is busy and in need of some exposition. Based on the covers so far, we must assume there are going to be 24 issues. In order to have a finite story, that works linearly, we need back story and we need plot and character development. We learn that Angela, for having robot parts, is the most human of them all. We learn that Miles Craven is, as his name indicates, cravenly. Michael Cray sees a shrink and Jacob Marlowe sees people as animals. See that? There is a lot going on and Ellis keeps us in the loop.
Negatives
Grifter is on the cover and while Cole is in the book, he is not in full on Grifter gear. Hmmmm. I am not sure how I feel about that. Do not tease us with Grifter.
Also, there are a lot of balls in the air and some new characters were introduced. Yes, they were introduced well, but it could be a distraction as some characters introduced in the first issue only have cameos here.
Verdict
Issue two has a lot of promise. I like the storylines and I like that there will be a huge collision course. Since this is a stand alone property in a stand alone universe, one can only hope that we will see some spin-offs from the mind of the great Jim Lee.
