Well. There are two red herrings, one predictable reveal and one rather lazy tying off. And a convenient death (or two) and a nonsensical reveal. Churilla manages to end well without much originality.

Throughout the series, Churilla has made Cooper sympathetic but not particularly likable. Everyone around him–save the doctor–is more unlikable, so Cooper floats to the top on that one. Those scenes with the cute bear provide all the buoyancy.

There’s also a full mix of the real world and the Glut, which doesn’t come off as well it should. Churilla’s clearly pressed for time–had he halved that filler issue a few back, he’d have room. The action scenes are fast-paced and often confusing; it doesn’t help Churilla usually tries to avoid one of the unfulfilled plot threads.

Cooper does work–Churilla just tries too hard to be clever. He needed to trust his material.

CREDITS

Writer, artist and colorist, Brian Churilla; letterer, Ed Brisson; editor, James Lucas Jones; publisher, Oni Press.

It’s a breezy read, probably the breeziest of D.B. Cooper (so far). Churilla’s in the end run now, tying into the famous plane hijacking–or setting up for the tie in. The issue opens with a big action scene, takes a little breather with some talking heads, then moves into two chase sequences. They tie together too.

There’s not a lot of exposition, which is nice. While having the doctor around to explain things is a good way to get out the expository dialogue, actual conversations are better.

It remains to be seen if Churilla’s going to be able to tie up all the loose ends satisfactorily. He practically added one an issue–and started with a few–so he’s up to seven or eight now.

For the finish, he loosens up the art in the real world scenes. He tended to be controlled before, now he’s going wild.

CREDITS

Writer, artist and colorist, Brian Churilla; letterer, Ed Brisson; editor, James Lucas Jones; publisher, Oni Press.

This issue is mostly talking heads. Churilla toggles between Cooper in the real world, his CIA nemesis in the real world, and the Glut. The structure helps the issue move, since most of the talking is repeating things from the previous issue. There’s actually a few pages when the CIA nemesis talks about it, then Cooper asks the doctor if the CIA nemesis is out there talking about.

But the structure’s strong enough Churilla’s able to hide seventy percent of the issue is complete filler. The art’s the key to that pacing. When the Glut breaks through to the real world, Churilla’s art is what makes the sequence work. He’s able to do slimy and icky without being gross; the art has menace, but not enough to be unpleasant.

It’s a filler issue and not a bad one as filler issues go.

The teddy bear remains a rather adorable character.

B- 

CREDITS

Writer, artist and colorist, Brian Churilla; letterer, Ed Brisson; editor, James Lucas Jones; publisher, Oni Press.

Churilla still hasn’t made the D.B. Cooper detail integral to the comic book. The comic’s called The Secret Life of D.B. Cooper, by the way, so one assumes Churilla knows he has to work it in or piss off readers.

Or maybe not.

D.B. Cooper works just fine without plain hijackings and parachutes and ransom money. Churilla fleshes out the details–the dream world Cooper visits is called “The Glut,” which is a pretty cool name and does distinguish from Dreamscape. He also plays with the monsters and their Soviet analogues, getting in a good surprise this issue.

Churilla even knows it’s obvious the teddy bear is adorable he has to address it in the story.

The last few pages–he ends the issue on a soft cliffhanger masquerading as a hard one–feature more revelations about the ground situation. He handles the exposition well.

And the art’s still great.

CREDITS

Writer, artist and colorist, Brian Churilla; letterer, Ed Brisson; editor, James Lucas Jones; publisher, Oni Press.

Brian Churilla has either seen Dreamscape or somehow picked it up in the ether. The Secret History of D.B. Cooper features a D.B. Cooper who travels into people’s psyches through dreams and assassinates them. The CIA pays him for it (another Dreamscape connection) and he hangs out with a cute little, talking teddy bear.

In other words, it’s not the most original thing, but Churilla handles it beautifully. He opens the issue with a flash forward–he plays a lot with time–and retells the hijacking story. He also does very well with the seventies time period, especially the Soviets.

Not a lot happens in the issue–most of the panels are spent on a lengthy fight sequence–but Churilla fills it out. The character interplay between Cooper and the teddy bear’s a good way to handle exposition.

The series’s off to a fine start. Nice art too.

CREDITS

Writer, artist and colorist, Brian Churilla; letterer, Ed Brisson; editor, James Lucas Jones; publisher, Oni Press.