The strain only continues to grow.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Dean Motter
What They Say:
Dean Motter takes us back to Radiant City with a new Mister X story: Pokerface!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having enjoyed reconnecting with the Mister X property through the limited series that ran last year, I was delighted to see that Dean Motter was back with another story, this time in Dark Horse Presents. His work, and this world that he’s shepherding, is one that I really think works best in smaller doses. The whole thing has a very personal feeling about it, closed in and tight, through both the artwork and the writing. So smaller chapters through this kind of serialization just adds to that feeling and it makes it all the more interesting because of it. Motter worked these kinds of story lengths in the previous book so it’s not a stretch for him, but it does get you to refigure how you’re presenting something in this form and his work is just ideally suited to it.
With this miniseries, it looks like (as usual) Mister X will be a supporting player for at least some of it. Events in Radiant City are moving as they always do and he’s doing his best to lay low as many people think he’s still dead. The arrival of Tess Lacoyle in his space again can upend that, though she’s mostly trying to do things on the right side after doing a bit of globetrotting after recent events in Electra City. She’s picked up a little restaurant as her new game in town and is being rather playful with our title character. Motter brings her to life wonderfully in the first six panels alone and expands on it even more with the second page and just a few more panels overall. The style of both art and story here is the kind of thing that already has me wanting a spin-off for the character to explore her more. That’s just how well Motter handles these kinds of things.
What Tess wants is something that Mister X isn’t interested in, which leads us to the Pokerface storyline itself. She’s got an old beau named Ollie that she’s trying to help as he’s in a bad way financially thanks to some gambling debts. He’s trying to go straight and do right by his family but keeps faltering because, surprise, he doesn’t have a poker face. With Tess helping him instead, we see the kinds of tricks that can be done to help, but it’s all setting up something bigger. What works is that through Tess and Ollie we get a really, really, good handle on his story and the whole gambling side itself is made fun and compelling to read even as you know how the flashback worked out. Using that to shift to the Big Deal tournament where he’s now able to play provides the right kind of contrast.
In Summary:
I’ll admit, it took me a second to really read the name Tess Lacoyle properly, but when it clicked I found myself just grinning stupidly. It’s these kinds of small moments that make stories like these fun and Motter knows how to tap into it well with the Mister X property. The book sets up a solid enough side story of sorts for Radiant City here and getting to explore more of this curious and intriguing world is all I want. I could get used to a chapter like this every month every year without missing a beat. There’s a lot to like here and I’m definitely curious to see how it plays out and what the game will be.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 15th, 2016
MSRP: $4.99
