City of Heroes #4
Originally Presented by Comixtreme.com
Review by:Walt Kneeland (walt_kneeland@yahoo.com) & Blake M. Petit (blake@comixtreme.com)
Quick Rating: Decent; Very Good
Title: Smoke and Mirrors, part 1 of 3
Summary: The Freedom Phalanx deals with a troll invasion and then jumps into a quest to save the world from the Circle of Thorns
Writer: Troy Hickman
Pencils: Wilson Tortosa
Colors: Sonia Orback with Zach Matheny
Design: Chaz Riggs
Letters: Troy Peteri
Cover Art: Rodolfo Migliari
Publisher: Image Comics/Top Cow
Review:WALT:I have mixed feelings on this issue. On the one hand, it definitely feels like "standard superhero fare." On another, it reminds me vaguely of an over-used story-type: heroes battle some threat, then upon reflection realize there's more to it than they thought. Then someone warns them that if someone gets all of the ________ (pieces/parts/artifacts/milkshakes) (which are not presently all in one location) they will rule-the-world/destroy-the-world/end-all-life/become-a-god(dess)/etc.
BLAKE: I get what you’re saying here, but in a way, I think that’s part of this title’s strength. The purpose of the game is to appeal to people who like old-school superhero storytelling (it’s really the closest thing to silver age comics I’ve ever played), and I think the comic book is playing to that same demographic.
WALT:Beyond its existence and what I've read of it, I'm not familiar with the game that this series is based on--so I'm not familiar with the histories of these characters, nor some of the game-mechanics/nuances. However, it is amusing to see one game mechanic--the teleportation of someone about to be killed to a "sickbay" for healing--dealt with here. We get a bit of humor from the sequence with the young hero looking up to Statesman, and a more serious bit when Statesman is nabbed by the teleporter.
BLAKE:I’m relatively new to the game, I’ve only been playing for a few weeks, but I can tell you that I appreciate the book much more now that I’m familiar with it. I read the first arc because it was written by Mark Waid and was planning to get this run anyway on the strength of Hickman’s writing (his Common Grounds miniseries was brilliant). In between issues 3 and 4, I’ve gotten into the game and I love it. Hickman clearly either plays the game himself or has studied it very closely. There’s a lot of fun in seeing villains I’ve fought in areas of the city I’ve roamed, in hearing the heroes talk about things that I’m familiar with. There’s even a bit of irony with a young hero that’s wounded and teleported to the hospital, getting back just too late to join in the fight - something that anyone who’s played the game can sympathize with.
WALT:As said, having a team split up, each to attempt to acquire/access a piece of some larger whole or parts that must all be together for something to happen, in order to keep the enemy/villain(s) from doing the same for their own evil ends is nothing new, and in this case, reminds me of the original G.I. Joe cartoon. You can get some moments out of such stories, but somehow I'm just hung-up on it with this issue.
BLAKE: This wasn’t my feeling at all - quite to the contrary, it reminded me of classic Justice Society of America or Justice League of America stories, which almost always employed this device - the heroes would break up into small teams, carry out portions of a mission, and then come together at the end. I think Hickman was quite deliberately paying homage to that format, and I greatly enjoyed it.
WALT:The art doesn't exactly blow me outta the water or anything--there was no singly-impressive panel/page that held my attention or made me stop and just soak it in. However, conversely there was nothing that made me close the issue in disgust. I'm not certain how detailed backgrounds and other such aspects are with characters in the actual game, but I did enjoy that this looks and feels entirely like a superhero comic, and not merely screen-shots from the video game.
BLAKE: I’m in agreement here - the artwork was just so-so. But the backgrounds were quite in-line with the game. It looked like the comic designer and the game designer based their work on the same environment, which I think is the best they could have shot for.
WALT:The title of this arc--Smoke and Mirrors--seems quite appropriate given the goings-on, and it will be interesting to see how the story plays out in the next couple of issues.
All in all, a good issue. In addition to points above, another negative this issue has going in is that Hickman has the inenviable position of following Mark Waid as writer on this title.
BLAKE: As big a fan as I am of Waid, I think Hickman is more than man enough to fill his shoes. I’d love to see this guy get more mainstream work, and I think he’s doing a very good job in his first issue of this arc.
WALT’S RATING: 6/10
BLAKE’S RATING: 8/10