A con man that can hear and see demons. Time to go vigilante!
What They Say:
Cole Cash is a charming grifter few can resist. And yet he’s about to be branded a serial killer when he begins hunting and exterminating inhuman creatures hidden in human for-creatures only he can see! Can the biggest sweet-talker of all time talk his way out of this one?
The Review:
I think I remember Grifter from some Wildstorm comics I read in the early 90s, I think. He was pretty cool in the Flashpoint cross-over “Lois Lane and the Resistance”, and the plot outline for this book begged me to pick it up. This may just be one of my favorites of the new 52.
The story is simple enough, Cole Cash is a grifter, a con man who travels form city to city conning businessmen. Then one day out of nowhere he is taken by an unknown entity and experimented on for 17 days. When he awakes, he manages to escape from wherever he was before the ‘transfer’ was complete. He can now hear the voices of demons that have taken human form. I’m sure similar premises exist but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a pretty cool premise. It opens up this whole world where our anti-hero is thought to be a murderer, chased by authorities and the government, and fights demons, super cool! It doesn’t hurt either that this book is a perfect introduction to the character and a well-written one at that.
This book goes for the full reboot and starts the story from scratch. There is absolutely zero prerequisite for this book and it isn’t told in flashbacks. We start at the beginning and move forward with this character. There are action pieces but they are the kind of understated pieces that hold more weight instead being all “Wow! Cool!” Plus, since we are starting from the beginning, we don’t know what is really going on but neither does the hero. We get to learn and discover with this character and over time that can leave a lasting impression and a strong connection with the character. I’m a sucker for paranormal storylines that aren’t influenced by Twilight and this plays as more of a mystery involving the paranormal because of the unknown elements of who and why. This is the beginning and I am already invested to see the end.
In Summary:
With so many of the new series being good or pretty good with a couple of excellents thrown in, it is always nice to see a series that is both excellent and understated. Grifter is not big and flashy and it has the potential to involve some really amazing sequences later on as we start to deal more with the whole demon thing. The main character isn’t exactly likable but we can empathize with him and that is what makes him so interesting to me. With top notch highly detailed art that really gets the tone of this book you can’t ask for a better first issue of a relatively unknown hero.
Grade: A
