Penciler: Carlos Villa
Inker: Roberto Poggi
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Review: Will Dubbeld
To be fair, I like more comics than not, but in any case...
They didn’t seem to get a fair shake, those Inhumans. They had a sweet Moon base (or Himalayan city, depending), a kung fu master, a brooding king, a couple beautiful ladies, and mysterious alien origins.
Despite the above selling points, and many others, the Inhumans never got over with the fans as well as the Avengers or X-Men. Periodically given their own series and perennially relegated to guest appearances, Black Bolt and Company meandered through Marvel continuity until very recently.
When Marvel jumped the Inhuman shark.
Recent history has seen Marvel give the Inhumans a push the fans never asked for.
Shoved to the fore and down reader’s throats, we saw them fight X-Men in a shoddy storyline, bear responsibility for the creation of nearly all new superhumans, spawn several hot debut comics, and generally maintain omnipresent status.
Despite the House of Ideas doing their damnedest to crowbar the House of Boltagon into superstar status, there’s a few of the books I have enjoyed.
And here comes Lockjaw...
Karnak is rad because he can karate-chop a building in half.
Medusa has prehensile hair. Also rad.
But Lockjaw is a giant teleporting bulldog.
With a tuning fork on his forehead.
Pretty tough to beat...
The real icing on the cake is Demolition Man.
Not the song on "Ghost in the Machine", even though I love The Police.
Not the Stallone movie, even though Taco Bell won the Franchise War.
Demolition Man and Lockjaw Team-Up #1 is what they shoulda called this comic...
D-Man is down and out. His boyfriend left him and he spends his time eating frozen pizzas and watching Jeopardy.
Lockjaw is on the hunt for his litter-mates.
Demolition Man’s neighbor has a pet bulldog who’s having a 30th birthday party.
I see where we’re going, here, and I love it.
Dunphy is at the bottom of the superhero barrel, and I bet his adventure with Lockjaw will get back his groove. The two start fighting a cadre of what resemble drones, only flown by what appears to be hamsters, and are soon off to the Savage Land.
Talking hamsters, no less...
There’s appearances from some of our favorite Inhumans early on, but the real superstar is D-Man.
Bear with me...
Kibblesmith does a great job emoting Dunphy’s sense of loss and complacency, his unhappiness and heartache.
Here’s a guy that went from superpowered wrestling star to sidekick, and from there has been kicked to the curb and made to live there.
Presumed dead, amnesiac, insane superpowered homeless guy, brainwashed assassin, killed and resurrected, made the butt of jokes, and now single.
D-Man got it tough, y’all.
Hopefully he’ll finally get the respect in this miniseries he’s earned.
By fighting hamster UFOs in the Savage Land alongside Lockjaw and Ka-Zar.
Brilliant.
Th art department is on point here. The colors pop and the inking is pretty well flawless. It reminds me of that sweet spot in the early ‘90s when the ink and color synergy really started to synchronize. Top notch work.
Villa’s pencils are a phenomenal base for the above-mentioned.
He’s got a great eye for detail without getting too busy, a firm grasp of anatomy, and his page layouts were well structured.
So Marvel has some problems, but this Lockjaw book isn’t amongst them. Much like the Pet Avengers series, this will probably be a fun, romping adventure and a welcomed distraction from whatever pathos-riddled storyline they’re currently pushing. The House of Ideas desperately needs more ideas like this, and less angst, less mega-event, less agenda, and less corporate meddling.
No comments:
Post a Comment