Keeping it in the family.
Creative Staff:
Story: Paul Levitz
Art: Sonny Liew
Colors:Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
What They Say:
The victorious Khalid returns to Brooklyn determined to get on with his life, but that’s easier said than done when you’re a novice superhero juggling romance, homework, and the untold powers of Doctor Fate. Fortunately, help comes in the form of a man who might know something about it: Uncle Kent Nelson.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ve talked a bit in several of the recent reviews that I’ve struggled with this book to varying degrees with what it’s doing. Levitz has a really good character and backdrop to work with here but things have been spread out and kind of undefined in a way that makes it accessible. This issue doesn’t exactly course correct anything but by doing a sort of standalone issue it helps to build the narrative better while leading into the next arc and the big connection there. Spoiled in the text teaser, we learn that Khalid’s uncle is actually Kent Nelson, the former Doctor Fate, and he’s showing up in the final couple of pages here. It’s not a big story point here to be sure but it’s a connective tissue with past works that I’m eager to see how Levitz will work with it.
This issue works really well beyond that, however, so it’s not reliant on that stinger at the end. What focus we do get is on Khalid as he’s dealing with the Dean in learning how they’re determining his fate after missing so many days at the school. While he does have some reasonable explanations, considering his father’s issues and that of the flood that screwed eveything over, it turns out that most of the students still made it in regularly and he was a true outlier for events. That has them looking closely to get the big picture before the expulsion is put into full motion. Considering his time spent in working this path, and the sacrifices others made so that he could pursue it, Khalid’s fear is palpable and well played here. Of course, the kink in all of this is that the Dean ends up suffering a heart attack mid lecture about what they’re going to do.
What Khalid gets drawn into here is neat as he sees the Dean’s ba flying off, something his own background presents it in a familiar way even though the Dean isn’t of the same faith, and he chooses to try and save it and return it to the body so as to not let him die. Visually, Sonny Liew delivers in spades here in a way that he hasn’t really been able to before and Lee Roughridge really hits it out of the part with the color design as Khalid ends up having to confront Anubis. All of it serves to reinforce the adversarial aspect between the two as well as showing Khalid that he is starting to get the hang of this a bit. While the helm continues to be difficult to deal with to say the least, Khalid’s growth is starting to show – though I admit I wouldn’t mind if he abandoned the school side to focus on what it truly means to be Fate and heal the world.
In Summary:
I’m still pulling for Doctor Fate in a big way as I like Khalid, I like the family, and I like the small bits of Shaya and Akila that we get here – areas that Levitz really needs to invest more time with. Liew really is ideal for this book as he’s defined the look of it well and the art team as a whole has put together a very solid issue here that shows what it can do in standalone format while weaving the bigger picture. After a few issues that were really starting to drag for me in a way and the uncertainty of the book post-Rebirth, this was a very encouraging issue for me.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 18th, 2016
MSRP: $2.99
