I read the first Weatherman series because Nathan Fox having a steady gig seemed like it was worth seeing. And the series was fine… I didn’t even remember it ended on a cliffhanger though. This second volume continues the action as mind-wiped former interplanetary terrorist turned weatherman turned fugitive (so he was mind-wiped out of being the terrorist into the weatherman, who got found out and became a fugitive) and his Scooby gang head to Earth to try to unlock the terrorist memories in order to stop the other terrorists.
This issue’s all establishing; writer Jody LeHeup shows how Earth is doing—where people are still stranded with an incredibly lethal virus, which will get them someday soon if the rest of the humans living off planet done kill the survivors off first so they can get the real estate back (Weatherman’s cynicism is on point)—and how things are going on the Weatherman’s mission. He’s pissing off the rest of the gang while still trying and failing to flirt with the secret agent woman who first found him and is basically his love interest. At least fits that role’s spot in the narrative, whether or not they’re actually getting together is besides the point.
There’s a lot of exposition, a lot of hints at future personal conflict (one crew member’s tattoo pisses off another crew member for some reason), all while there’s the time crunch with the terrorists still out there and then political intrigue as the solar system female president doesn’t want to kill off all the Earthlings without trying to save them but the white men don’t care about trying to save them.
It’s… all right. Kind of a lackluster return for the series, which hasn’t got any exposition for anyone starting here—you’ve got to be versed in the previous volume not just for information but also for investment. There’s no reason to read Volume Two if you aren’t invested from before.
Fox’s art is good. A tad restricted. Probably not enough on its own to keep the interest up for the series. Especially not since it seems a little too streamlined here. It’s not interesting on its own.
If Weatherman Volume Two #2 were sitting here, I’d read it. But probably not if I had to reach for it. It’s perfectly fine.
Just… not exciting at all.
I wish Joe Casey loved Jack Kirby a little less. Captain Victory ends with the origin of Captain Victory (as the young version sees it unfold). What’s it like? Well, there are nods to Darkseid, the New Gods, probably something from Marvel, whatever. It’s a bunch of Kirby homage and it’s all in summary and none of it’s in scene.
Connor Willumsen contributes maybe four pages to this issue of Captain Victory and, wow, it really doesn’t help the comic. The comic’s all right–it starts sci-fi heavy (something about Fox’s art doesn’t match the Kirby designs in the denser areas)–and the main action in New York City is great. Except when it’s Willumsen’s pages. He draws cute.
Fox gets to do a lot on the art. There’s a lot of drama to the Earth stuff; between it and the adventures of the barbaric Captain Victory taking down a big monster, Fox gets to shine. Less, of course, with the subplot involving the guys on the ship. It’s really annoying this issue, with Casey desperately filling their dialogue with expository details.
Even though Casey is incredibly derivative–the Close Encounters nod is simultaneously cute and too much–Captain Victory continues to be a nice diversion. It’s not exactly a fun read, just because Casey doesn’t let his cast enjoy anything. There is some banter with the scientists on Earth who are looking at one of the spacecraft, but it’s over in a page.
Casey goes with a four-way split on this issue of Captain Victory. There's the original spaceship, hunting down the Captain Victory clones who are off who knows where. Then there's the full-grown, yet battle damaged Captain Victory who doesn't remember anything exactly; he's getting in fights on a garbage planet. He's not particularly interesting and Casey doesn't give Fox a lot of great stuff to draw on his story.
So here’s the story to Captain Victory, near as I can tell–the captain of a starship gets cloned on death so he can continue to command. Pretty neat. Only the clones in this case end up in different places thanks to a time warp or wormhole. Dirty seventies New York and then some wasteland planet.
So I guess–or I know, based on all the ads–Hawken: Melee is based on a video game. It’s apparently some kind of first person shooter in a mech. So, Battletech, right? Everything mech is Battletech, everything mech is Robot Jox. I know, I know, it’s not.
With the exception of Bruce explaining to Barbara why Leslie Thompkins is important to him, Gabrych does a stellar job with the feature.