Image Comics Review:Â Dead Eyes #1
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist:Â John McCrea
Letters:Â Joe Sabino
Colors:Â Mike Spicer
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
Summary
“They remember the 90s being more fun than I do” – Martin Dobbs “Dead Eyes”
You can’t keep a good comic down. In the 1990s, DEAD EYES was a prolific stick-up man and hoodlum in Boston until he took down one last big score and disappeared. Nobody ever discovered the truth. He retired to be with the love of his life, but now he’s back in the mask to save her. No one—not his wife, the mafia, or the cops—is happy that he’s out of retirement. From John McRea, the artist and co-creator of MYTHIC and Hitman, and Gerry Duggan, the writer of ANALOG and DEADPOOL, comes the action, comedy, and drama of Martin Dobbs, a.k.a. DEAD EYES, the man who says he’s descended from one of the original gangs of New York City. Get on board the oversized first issue of an all-new ONGOING SERIES for mature readers.
Positives
You know the story. Boy with vigilante and robbing past meets the girl of his dreams. But she has a delibating illness and he has to care for her. So he turns all Robin Hood and robs and kills for money. But along the way he kills some really bad people to make up for the other work he has done. Black Widow? Robin Hood? Nah…it’s Dead Eyes!
John McRea has me even thinking that this character is straight out of Watchmen with a Rorschach homage. The mask and the motives are really cool. And the best scene is Martin leaving for his Mart greeter job, identifying a potential killer by the contents of his cart. Now he makes some rookie mistakes along the way, and arguably leaves some clues. But he is still the same Dead Eyes.
“Hi Honey. I’m Home!” “You’re not wearing that mask again, are you?” A wife knows. Even though Martin’s motives are pure in caring for his wife, his methods are brutal.
Negatives
John McCrea starts out with different shading and provides a Sin City/Frank Miller homage to when Martin is actually Dead Eyes. However, he backs away from that in the middle of the issue. I thought that this was a great artistic way to show life under the mask and give the reader a sense of Martin’s perceptions even more. But McCrea abandons it, and while the comic is solid, this would have been a unique feature about Dead Eyes.
Verdict
Gerry Duggan lets his inner Deadpool out for a spin with another winning character. Dead Eyes is a great premise and it reeks a bit of Breaking Bad. Right guy with the correct skill set who is doing things for the right reason but he is so so wrong! There are many layers to this vigilante and I love his slyness and the way he can quick ID something that is not going right! It is rare to get in on the ground floor of a new comic that really is going places! You would be wise to open up your eyes to read Dead Eyes!
