Gotta tattooed head say Number 13

When we last visited Number 13 we were drunk on mulled wine, and Santa had failed to deliver that renewed series of 'Generation Hope' that i'd been pining for...

So with a clearer head and final at peace with the loss of Cable Junior it was time to revisit Robert Love and David Walker and Robert Love's post-apocalyptic warzone. #3 marks the final instalment of this 4 part series, and with a heavy heart, I must admit that it falls a little flat.

Love sets up what could have been a brilliant story - nothing groundbreaking, but great nevertheless. An apocalyptic world where many of the humans population have been a affected by the mutant gene (Mutes), whilst a smaller proportion have remained immune (Munes). Cue the mad scientist with a passion for biology and an aversion to the different (sound familiar), and one little boy with a rare blood type that not only renders him immune to the mutation, but as has the ability to destroy it. Pull him apart and replace some bits with terminator style machinery, and you have one lean meant 13 killing machine. A 'bumb on the head' leaves 13 memoryless and wanting to save the beings he's been 'created' to kill.

Simple, but with Love/Dana Shukartsi's art and Heather Breckel's inks it all comes to life in a garishly stunning way. But sadly enough this this enough to carry it all the way through. The story pretty much ends how you'd expect (sorry no spoilers here), and to be honest its rather...ungratifying. I get the feeling that there could have been so much more, a few more twists and turns.

There isn't much of a chance to really attach yourself to a character, and I didn't really feel as if I was 'following' Number 13 on his journey. Whilst it's great as a moral compass for modern day life (love thy neighbour, accept each other etc), I felt very much on the outside of it.

Number 13 is definitely the beginnings of something pretty awesome, but just fails to reach it true potential...who knows...Love and Walker might end this madness and dazzle us with more issues to really bring out the story. They might even release a prequel...I have many of fingers and arms crossed.

Holiday helpers: Dark Horse Comics

Tis the season, and we've been in hibernation recovering from stupid amounts of food and crappy TV, but now it's back to business.

In the last couple of months we've jumped back on board the Dark Horse wagon with the Whedonverse (Willow, Angel & Faith), and now Kelly Sue Deconnick & Phil Noto's 'Ghost' and Robert Love & David Walker's brainchild 'Number 13'


Ghost
Kelly Sue Deconnick and Phil Noto come together to resurrect a Dark Horse classic. In true fashion, we weren't too familiar with the original - only the basics. Elisa Cameron is a murdered reporter on a quest to discover the truth about her death.

Now under the control of  Deconnick and Noto, she has been revived for a 4 part series under a new storyline -"Resurrection Mary", in which Elisa's spirit is revived by two 'ghost hunter' investigators with a weird piece of paranormal tech, after investigating a graveyard in search of the 'woman in white' - Resurrection Mary. Elisa appears memory-less and after some 'accidental' killings, the investigators vow to help her solve the mystery of her mysterious identity! Simples!

Deconnick was a massive draw for reading this. Her work with the new Captain Marvel has been the best thing since sliced bread, and we were hoping that she could attach the same awesomeness to this. We're happy to say that indeed she has done it again. Deconnick has a great way of making female leads REALLY lead. Even as a 'damsel in distress' (kinda), Elisa is still very badass, menacing and for me, hilarious when it comes to leading the slightly more squeaky clean male leads astray.
We're really feeling Noto's artwork. It's simple and graceful, and very fitting for the story, especially Elisa's ghostly scenes. He gives her the perfect glow, and it great at making elements within a scene 'pop'.

2 issues in, and this 4 part series is gritty, fun and the perfect introduction to a character that been in the comic world for years but some of us are too slow to pick up on.



Number 13
Yet another "The cover art looks fun, lets get this badboy". God bless our talent for judging a comic by it's cover.

Robert Love and David Walker's 'Number 13' is the kind of sci-fi, post-apocalyptic goodness that we love. The premise is clear and simple - A mutation has affected some humans, with the immune at war with the infected. The world has pretty much ended, and in comes Number 13 - the potential savior who appears to be some kind of humanoid robot. We don't know as of yet how he can 'save' (or destroy) the human race. What more do you need!

Love keeps the dialogue simple, a story like this really sells itself, but Love is definitely taking this in an interesting direction, and somewhere potentially quite dark.
Walker's work is a massive driving force here. It's nothing amazingly special, but it's fun, very easy on the eye, and based in the little glimpses of action we've seen so far, we get the feeling that Walker is definitely just warming up.

There is so much room for character development, and this will definitely be it's strongest point. These are characters that you can see yourself falling in love with straight away. They already remind me of The Runaways (Brain K Vaughan can do no wrong), and if you're going along that route, then there really isn't much room for error (hopefully).

I don't really see any issues with this story so far, however, I do think that it has the potential to fall into the age old anti-climactic trap - building so much hype that the end result just falls a little flat. But fingers crossed.