This book did not need to get this weird this fast.
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Waid
Art: Neil Edwards
What They Say:
Why is a Master Of The Occult forced to deal with a Robot Fighter, a Dinosaur Hunter, and a Man Of The Atom!?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Doctor Spektor series has certainly been an interesting read in its first three issues since it wasn’t as chained down by the past of the character in previous publishing, and it had the opportunity to carve out its own section of the Gold Key books that are enjoying a revival at Dynamite. But the second issue threw us a nice curveball with the alternate reality side of things that the characters faced and then the use in the first two issues of Magnus, our favorite robot hunter, being involved out there. Spektor quickly felt like he was becoming a secondary character in his own title, which can happen to good effect in a lot of series, but not in the second or third issue of its run. This issue starts to provide what could be answers, but it also left me with one simple thing. I kept wondering just how much is real again, which in turn has you questioning everything so far and feeling a bit disconnected from it.
Magnus, caught up in an electrical net of some sort, is certainly pushing and prodding at Spektor in a lot of ways, especially when Gail’s name comes up and that starts to set a few things in motion with Spektor’s mind. It’s like a key that’s been put in front of him that’s not quite unlocking everything, but it makes him realize there are things that have been lost to his memories. Magnus does his part to try and get Spektor to remember him, since remembering Gail is a big step that should help to connect the two, and there’s a lot of awkward back and forth between the two. Having been reading the Magnus book, this feels like an odd case of something similar to what he went through at the start there and you can see how Magnus would want to help someone else. But I’m also left wondering if this is the same Magnus as that book and what reality is truly real here. Again, it leaves you questioning everything. When you try to reconcile this with the other books out there, since it does provide nods to Solar and Turok as well, I’m left feeling disconnected again because I can’t reconcile it. It leaves me not trusting anything.
That all plays out throughout the book with a lot of back and forth and Spektor starting to grasp that things aren’t right, which is easier to accept when Lenny gets his head knocked off and is revealed to be a robot. On the flip side, or in another reality, universe or existence or whatever, we see what Abby is struggling with in her attempts to stay alive and get back to Spektor. She’s aided by a mysterious woman who seems to understand the true nature of what’s going on and is working to thrust her back into that other reality. But she has to help Abby survive what’s going on here while trying to make sure that Abby’s mind doesn’t snap or break while also reinforcing that nothing they see is real. Which is important, since this new arrival is quite physical with opponents and deadly with a gun and is unafraid to use it. It all moves quickly, chaotically and with a sense of unreality about it at times when interacting with a host of other characters that it just washes over you. Stuff happens here, and we do get that reconnect with Spektor, but so much of it just feels like “stuff’s happening” and not being sure what any of it means. I’m just as lost as Spektor at this stage.
In Summary:
I’ve enjoyed the Doctor Spektor series so far because it feels unpredictable and is going in its own direction, but an issue like this just leaves me with my mouth open wondering what it is that I’ve missed. That could mean that in a couple of issues that this will either make perfect sense or I’ll be even more lost. What we do get here is interesting and I can see it pulling together into a good narrative, but my mind is trying to connect it to what I know of the other revived properties and it’s not making any sense there. That may just be my issue though. Spektor’s side of the story here is confusing and unsettling in a lot of ways but I found myself enjoying what Abby was going through with the help she was getting and where that may lead, since it says a lot about her in how she handled it and who her guardian angel may turn out to be. If any of this is real, that is.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 20th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99