It’s all right. I mean, Soule is still carting the Dubya analogue around–turning him into a Bond villain, which (thanks to Alburquerque’s art) comes off like a cartoon. Not in a good way.

And Soule borrows quite a bit from every sci-fi book and movie where the Earth is faced with imminent disaster. Alburquerque hurts the more visual of those moments. Letter 44 has passed the point where I think about how Soule’s better scenes would play with better art. The last scene, though, the “surprise”–which might get Soule another ten issues out of the comic, which is incredible since this one was pretty solidly ready to go as the penultimate–it would be nice to see it with better art.

The most annoying thing about the issue is how much Soule utilizes his better parts of the comic book, only he doesn’t use them–the characters–he reminds the readers they cared about them. The first lady, whose own story arc was inexplicably flushed, pops up for a visual gag and it all of a sudden makes Letter 44 so much more engaging. It’s mercenary, obvious, but competent. It’s part of the cover price.

Like I said, it’s all right. I’ll complain about Soule writing half a comic with two and a half times too much story, I’ll complain about the art–which never will sync properly with the book–but I’ll be back every issue. Because Letter 44 hasn’t given up, even after the point its clear it isn’t going to hit big or get optioned by Hollywood. It won’t be the zeitgeist, it won’t be a series I go back and reread in ten years. But it’ll be a comic I fondly remember reading when it came out.

There’s a distressing glibness to this issue of Letter 44. Soule’s pushed so far past the reasoned, “West Wing” with aliens gimmick, he’s actually managed to bring the series out on the other side. Soule’s lost the verisimilitude. The comic might not need it, but it sure made Letter 44 a lot more ambitious.

The stuff Soule’s doing here? A “rematch” between the United States and Germany over World War II? It’s lame. For a number of reasons. Not least of which is Alburquerque doesn’t get any time with the battle. It’s done in summary. It’s a silly detail drug out.

At the same time, the space stuff is better this issue. A lot better, even with some lame characters and not great art.

Letter 44 has become an amusing comic book. It’s not fulfilling its potential. It’s still okay. It’s good to have some solid genial reads out there.

I really hope the Builders didn’t build the Chandelier to zap a huge asteroid about to hit Earth, saving us from extinction when all we could do was imagine we needed to war against these benevolent visitors.

Because it would be really lazy writing from Soule and this issue of Letter 44 isn’t lazy. The art’s still got problems and Soule’s soft cliffhanger is goofy, but everything else is rather solid. It’s just hard to adjust to it, because–after jumping forward in time last issues–Soule sort of waited until this issue to continue the story he started the series with.

He’s got a fun scene for the President and a truly awesome one for the first lady. Alburquerque really drops the ball on the latter.

It’s not a perfect issue. It’s rushed, both in terms of the narrative and the art. The cliffhanger. But it’s often quite good.