The naivety of Khalid.
Creative Staff:
Story: Paul Levitz
Art: Sonny Liew
Colors:Lee Loughridge
What They Say:
Floods! Looting! Talking cats! All this, and the truth about Khalid’s link to the ancient power of Thoth.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Though the opening arc for Doctor Fate is playing out in a bit longer form than I would have cared for, it’s worked well to give us a pretty good feeling for our lead character, his social life and family as well as touching on his entry into medical school. He’s come across as more fleshed out and well rounded than a lot of characters in a good way while also having to deal with the whole Doctor Fate angle alongside the end times, floods, Anubis and a problematic Bastet. With the fifth issue it feels like we’re finally just about ready to bring the opening piece to a close, so what we get here is mostly setup and placement for what’s to come. Which means Khalid has to act stupidly. Understandable, but stupidly.
A lot of what we’re dealing with here is fairly natural material as Khalid is struggling with his inability to really do much of anything or cope with it, especially on top of his father being wounded so badly and in the hospital. It also doesn’t help that Bastet isn’t much help, the helm is cryptic and nobody is being up front in giving him some knowledge. We see him trying to do his best though and he’s had some successes, but even when he does try to do the right thing it ends up just being weak at best most of the time. Such is the case when he tries to stop a few looters while he’s flying overhead but finds himself unable to do it well – and he certainly doesn’t want to make this the moment where he learns if he’s bulletproof or not. It’s a natural caution combined with the lack of information that he has which makes his responses believable.
The problems come later though when he discovers that Anubis is actually at his father’s hospital and is seeking to destroy him due to his connection to the past that could seal him. It’s an interesting bit of potential there that could make his father more involved as it goes on, but it puts Khalid in that always difficult spot. Often it’s used to get the lead to step up and fight, but it also often plays as it does here where Khalid willingly gives up the helm in order to save his father. Trusting Anubis isn’t smart and it’s a frustrating sequence because it’s so familiar and obvious in how it plays out. The saving grace continues to be with Anubis himself as you really get a great sense of anger and fury out of him and Sonny Liew brings his transformation to life in a fantastic way across the landscape.
In Summary:
I quite liked this installment overall even with the problems towards the end. The characters are ones that I want to see really get the time to grow and be something more and I’m hopeful that after this arc is finished that we get to really dig into things in a more engaging way, whether with other known characters or continuing to play by itself. I’m also really hopeful to see more of the supporting cast because I really like the family and the love interests that exist since it has some nice cultural angles to play with as well. These elements combined with Liew’s fantastic artwork and layouts that provides it with some rich details and great flow makes it a really great read even when it slows down more than it should.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: October 21st, 2015
MSRP: $2.99
