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Meehan, Bram – Death, Cold As Steel #3 (with Jamie Chase)
Death, Cold as Steel #3 (with Jamie Chase)
You didn’t really think things would end up as neat and tidy as they appeared to in the last issue, did you? The real killer is shown in this issue, and it ends up making a lot more sense and sets up some reservations about the nature of the people with super powers that carry on all the way to the present. Again, it doesn’t make sense for me to say too much about it all here, as there’s no reason to ruin the surprise, and you’ll either pick these up or not. I will say that Bram had better not quit this series in six months or a year due to needing to pay the bills, or feed his kids, or anything silly like that. He’s building this story from the bottom up, stopping to fill in gaps in the middle along the way, and it’s obvious already that it’s the sort of thing that will only get better and deeper as more bits are added. Or I could be completely wrong and the whole thing could collapse into an ugly, disorganized heap, but he sure gives the impression of knowing what he’s doing, or at least knowing the potential of this whole story. Yes, if you hate anything related to superhero comics, you’ll probably hate this too, even though this particular series was just barely about the superheroes, and more about the regular people. If you’re able to keep an open mind though, dig in, and there’s plenty at his website to check out if you are curious. $2.99
Meehan, Bram – Death, Cold As Steel #2 (with Jamie Chase)
Death, Cold as Steel #2 (with Jamie Chase)
If you like your hero beat up, stitching himself up after a fight and getting into a car chase, this one is for you. This has been a pretty solid noir series so far. We get to find out who killed the indestructible man in this one (no, I’m not going to give it away) but, as you can probably tell from that “2 of 3” on the cover, there’s still more to learn after this. How did this happen? Mr. Morris spends the issue questioning people, breaking down leads until he eventually gets what he’s looking for. My only tiny problem here was with the art, and it’s teeny tiny. There’s a fine line, when doing a noir story, between dark shades and smudgy lines contributing to the feel of the whole thing and just looking like a rushed comic. It’s hard to even see the line in something as atmospheric as this, but there did seem to be a few panels when it looked a little cranked out. That’s my little complaint of the day, as the actual story is a lot of fun and 95% of the art suits this perfectly. The exciting conclusion should be up here in a few weeks, as this crew continues to add brick after brick to this mythology. $2.95
Meehan, Bram – Raised By Squirrels (with Monica Meehan)
Raised By Squirrels
Call this an aesthetic problem if you want, but it’s really best to throw a “Book One” on the cover if you plan on keeping the story going, which it sure looks like they’re doing here. It just looks naked now. Minor quibbles aside, this was a fun espionage thrilller book, if a bit confusing at times and loaded with too many flashbacks in a row. They story begins with a woman (Rose) trying to get a man (Tyler) who has left a nebulous spy organization (S.Q.R.L.) to come back to the fold. She left him for dead previously, but he sees he has no choice in the matter so goes with her. No idea how he survived being left for dead, as that part was left out of the flashbacks. S.Q.R.L. (no idea what it stands for) develops and/or makes super beings for use in their black ops type missions, and we get to briefly see a few here. This looks like it has the potential to be a massive, sprawling, complicated spy story, so a suggestion at the start, which they already picked up on a little bit: throw in some history here and there. More of the bits of memos we saw, or maybe a timeline when they get another half dozen issues or so into the storyline. I like what I saw (the art was great for this type of story, all dark and smudgy), but rein in the story a bit, maybe focus on a character per issue or something for a bit. Just my two cents, such as it is. Worth picking up if you like this sort of thing, as I would say chances are good that there are better days ahead. Also, I just checked out the website and it looks like the story is moving right along there, with issues you can download for free, so at least you won’t be left with a cliffhanger for long. $4.95
Meehan, Bram & Chase, Jamie – Death, Cold As Steel #1
Death, Cold As Steel #1 (with Jamie Chase)
First, three cheers for an excellent title, which only gets better when you know that it was set in more appropriate, noir-y times (1946 to be exact) and the story inside deals with the murder of an indestructible man known as the Steel Soldier. It also looks like they followed my suggestion from the last review (although I’m not nearly egotistical enough to claim a direct cause and effect relationship there) to build more on the history of the group in general. This is the first of a three part mini series, and the story is simple enough: who killed the indestructible man? A detective/agent named Mr. Morris is called, and the rest of the story is a basic introduction to the other super powered agents left and the general set-up of the agency. If they’re planning on building their own world here, and it looks like that’s the general idea, they’re going about it exactly the right way. Keep this up for a few years and there should be plenty to work with here, and it’s already, at a minimum, damned intriguing. $2.99
