After reading the first issue of Ordinary, I was worried somehow Williams would cop out in the finish. Actually, I thought he would cop out in the second issue. Instead, he cops out in the finale of the series. It’s not a one hundred percent cop out, but it’s in the high eighties. Williams gets a high B in coping out.

The comic starts just fine, however, which makes it all the more irritating. Regular guy Michael is still saving his kid, there are some fantastic visuals and some very humorous play off them in Williams’s plotting. It’s going just fine. Until the governments show up to fight over Michael and D’Israeli starts checking out as far as detail.

His composition is weak too. He has too many characters to track and so he just rushes through. The comic might survive it, if it just weren’t for Williams’s writing deficiencies.

C 

CREDITS

Writer, Rob Williams; artist, D’Israeli; editor, Steve White; publisher, Titan Comics.

I’m a little surprised how well x and y hold Ordinary together for the second issue. There are almost no pitfalls, which is something considering the big change in reality is gearing up to be a dream or the end of the world.

Hopefully, x won’t try to explain it. He does bring in the scientist to try to figure out what to do–which is difficult because of the fundamentalist vice-president who doesn’t want to do anything about everyone all of a sudden being magical.

X writes the government crisis scenes well. They remind more of Dr. Strangelove than anything else.

Meanwhile the protagonist is still trying to find his son and having little adventures along the way. They’re all disturbing, even the big musical number. X and y do a great job with that musical number.

Only the hard cliffhanger feels off; it’s too much implied danger.

B+ 

CREDITS

Writer, Rob Williams; artist, D’Israeli; editor, Steve White; publisher, Titan Comics.

I can’t imagine how Rob Williams and D’Israeli are going to maintain on Ordinary. Actually, let me amend that statement–D’Israeli will maintain just fine. Doing a story about people getting fantastical powers and sometimes not fantastical powers, but always visually interesting ones… Well, it’s got to be a fanciful artist’s dream job.

But Williams might have some problems.

Here’s the setup–likable loser Michael (bad dad, bad friend, bad ex-husband, smalltime crook, owes loan sharks) is the only person not effected when the world goes mystical. Everyone gets crazy powers or crazy experiences. Williams and D’Israeli deserve recognition for the wonderful stuff they come up with in the backgrounds too.

But there’s a story. Michael is trying to find his missing son and Michael is the only one not effected. He’s on a quest. There are many narrative perils ahead. I hope Williams can steer clear of them.

A 

CREDITS

Writer, Rob Williams; artist, D’Israeli; editor, Steve White; publisher, Titan Comics.