Hayes’ life is about to get a lot more complicated.
Creative Staff:
Story: Nathan Edmondson
Art: Mike Perkins
What They Say:
In a mission that twice-crosses the globe, Deathlok must stop an airplane mid-flight. While Henry Hayes tries to balance his life at home with the missions he doesn’t even know about, other parties, good and bad, are taking an interest in him.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening issue of Deathlok did some good stuff for me with its presentation of the newly introduced Henry Hayes and how he was leading a double life that he wasn’t even aware of. Nathan Edmondson worked a three angle story across a few different groups of people that kept you wondering about what the trick of it all may be while Mike Perkins provided a solid looking book. That feeling largely continues here, though there’s less of a hook this time around and I find myself wary about coming back on a monthly basis at this point. I like the character of Deathlok from my childhood and we have that visually here, but it’s been reworked so much in the years since that it’s a bit harder to connect with now.
This installment provide for some decent material across the board as we see Hayes, as Mustang, taking down an AIM aircraft in order to get a “package” that’s aboard it that the mysterious people in Control want. It’s amusing seeing some of the banter between the AIM agents before things go south for them and the underwater adventure that Mustang gets to go on gave me quite the Thunderball feeling, which is an interesting angle for the series to work with to a degree. It’s not an subplot that goes well for Mustang though as the AIM organization is on top of him before Control can get in and get him out, but it provides for some of the action throughout the book that reinforces his skill set overall and what he’s capable of. An it’s also well paced, though a good part of me wishes that it wasn’t broken up with some of the other material and just given its own time to shine.
That said, it was interesting to see how Control handles the situation once the AIM group shows up to ensure the package isn’t taken and we get a good feel for just how expendable Mustang may be. There’s definitely value to him though and we do see part of that in the other side of the book with Henry himself, as he has to deal with parent issues regarding Aria as he grades are slipping due to her absentee father and her rebellious nature, which we also see in how she interacts with him in general. Some kids are just going to take advantage of such situations while others will buckle down. You definitely have to feel for him though as he wants to be there but his work takes him all over. Interestingly, we see him, though Control, starting to look for a local job that will keep him there, but they’re intent on making sure that doesn’t happen.
In Summary:
Admittedly, the big draw for some will be the appearance of Domino in the final pages and how she may end up involved in this as she’s working for AIM at the moment as she has a working deal with them. Drawing her into what Hayes is involved in as Mustang could make for a pretty good action plot with her style and his precision, which is what will likely get me to come back for one more issue. But the price/value side just isn’t working for me with the hooks that we’ve been given so far, though I’m generally liking the character and what he’s doing and what the whole SHIELD angle may turn into. Edmonson is giving us a long game here with what’s going on and I definitely want to support that, but it really needs just a bit more to make me excited for each new issue rather than just pleased to see a new one arrive.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: November 26th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
