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RECOMMENDED (*** stars)
DEATHMASK #1,
a FUTURE COMICS ongoing series.
CREDITS:
Written by David Michelinie. Art by Dick Giordano.
Q:
SYNOPSIS: Future's combination of Doctor Strange, Shaman, the
Punisher and Victor Von Doom goes after an evil (hey, Vegas is family
friendly now) casino owner.
RELEASED: 4/23/03
COVER PRICE (USA):
$2.99
YOUR ALTERNATE REALITY PRICE:
$2.54 |
"...honestly at this
point I don't have enough information to figure out
where this book is going." |
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Review
by
Lawrence Evans
The new character of Deathmask is composed of many elements and
honestly at this point I don't have enough information to figure
out where this book is going.
We start out with the lead character on a vision quest up in the
middle of a mountain range. Now when I say middle I mean it
because the masked one is actually inside a mountain while all
this is going on inside his head. The character is troubled,
lost inside him and has a damaged face that the art team of
Giordano and company founder Bob Layton keep under wraps.
The villain of the piece is casino owner Adonis Dulac, a man
with serious issues about being touched. I get the impression
here that he wants to place a casino on Indian land (Deathmask
is Indian) while destroying the mystical hero as well. He has a
scientist working for him named Lorre and he has an idea of how
to get both goals accomplished at the same time. In case you
haven't figured it out yet from reading any Future titles the
first thing the creators seem to need to do is give their
characters stupid names then powers.
Also involved here is the guy we see lighting a cigarette on the
cover, FBI agent (guess what) Dillinger, a character also
interested in hunting down the masked man. He's introduced in a
cool way before we see that when Deathmask goes after someone
he's not delicate about it. Brutality the likes that hasn't been
seen since the Spectre stories in the 70's shows us mangled
bodies and a take no prisoners attitude, this book is not for
the squeamish.
All in all, I liked this offering from the company better than
some of the others. The Giordano art seems a bit rushed but as I
examined it further I realized the inking hurt the story more
than it helped. Layton's style doesn't mix with everyone. The
lead seems to have too much going on with the mystic nature of
his abilities, him also using a gun (although not in this issue)
and the woman he visits after he masticates the thugs working
for Dulac. The costume is, however, somewhat cool. |
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DEATHMASK
© 2003 David Micheline/Robert Layton.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Review ©
2003 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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