When Heaven & Hell are after your Soul…
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: Fernando Dagnino
Long-time readers of this blog will know that I don’t have much of a history reading comic books save some X-Men when I was younger (as well as a recent attempt to get back into the medium). The main problem for me was always “Where do I start?” With the recent re-boot of 52 DC Comic titles, it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. So, I’ve picked up quite a few to try out (eleven, to be exact), and will post short reviews of them all over the next couple of weeks – the focus will be on story, art, and also how well they work as introductions.
Resurrection Man was one of the titles I’d not heard of before, so I decided to start here – though, admittedly, of the 52 new titles, well over half are totally new to me. One thing to mention right off: If I’d known earlier that Dan Abnett was involved, I would never have taken this long to get to it. I’m a big fan of his fiction, and it’s nice to know he’s pretty great at the comics, too.
The first issue of this new run of Resurrection Man drops you right into the story – we join Mitch as he comes back to life on a gurney and discovers what his new power is (he gets a new one each time he comes back to life). Abnett and Lanning do an excellent job of showing us what his deal is, rather than dropping a ton of exposition on the reader – as someone new to the title, I quickly got the gist of what was going on, and the hints at larger things to come was certainly enticing. Equally, there don’t appear to be any allusions to what has come before, so this new reader wasn’t lost or made to feel like I was late to the party.
There’s something about the story that reminds me of the Supernatural TV series – someone caught in the middle of Heaven and Hell, both fighting over his soul. It will be really interesting to see how this story develops, as I love this sort of thing.
The artwork is very good, too – clean and clear, not overly exaggerated or over-stylised, Dagnino’s style is great – atmospheric, with a darker colour palette and lots of great compositions.
I’ve not bought individual issues of comics for a long time. It’s nice to read things episodically, but I forgot how short single issues can be (which is why it’s a little difficult to write much without giving too much away). Nevertheless, I will definitely be picking up the next two issues while I’m in the US, and doing my best to keep getting it when I’m back in the UK.
The issue also includes a short interview with the writers and artist of this title and also Demon Knights, another of the reboots (review coming shortly). It offers some minor hints of what is to come.
A solid opening act, I really enjoyed this.
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