The Stop Button

I think Pfarrer really likes The Thing, the movie I mean. It wasn’t as clear the first issue, but this one, it really feels like Pfarrer is trying to make a sequel to something he likes. Maybe because he brings back the Keith David character, Childs.

Sadly, Pfarrer doesn’t seem to get how to write a movie adaptation. He writes these lines you can’t imagine the actors saying and, when it’s a sequel to a movie—with the characters who are only in that movie—there’s an expectation. When Childs’s dialogue is full of “dudes,” you know, because he’s black, it’s ludicrous.

Sadly, while the writing is a smidgen better, the art is worse. Higgins has a lot of action and talking heads to do; he doesn’t manage either. Painted art is just wrong here.

Just when it’s getting interesting, Pfarrer runs out of pages.

And the abbreviated finish’s weak.

CREDITS

Writer, Chuck Pfarrer; artist, John Higgins; letterer, Richard Starkings; editor, Randy Stradley; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.