Reviewer: Jesse Baker
Story Title: Great Minds
Written by: Joe Casey
Penciled by: Francisco Ruiz Velasco
Inked by: NA
Colored by: Randy Mayor
Lettered by: Phil Balsman
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Publisher: Wildstorm/DC Comics
It’s been a while since I last reviewed an issue of Wildcats and thankfully I picked a good issue to review. It’s the last Wildstorm comic until Feburary’s “Coup D’etat” crossover, where the entire “Eye of the Storm” line goes on a month-long hiatus for the crossover. This issue wraps up some loose ends while continue setting things up for the upcoming “Coda World War” storyline.
Synoposis
The plot for this issue has Jack Marlowe (AKA Spartan) being targeted by the Kent Administration, who seek to do whatever is necessary to destroy the Halo Corporation and keep it’s ultra-efficient car battery line from harming the various Big Oil conglomerates that the Kent Administration are deeply in bed with.
(For those who are wondering, the Kent Administration is the Wildstorm Universe version of George W Bush. In Wildstorm Cannon, Bush was pulled from the Republican Party ticket in the 2000 election after the Authority’s Doctor used his powers to turn both Bush and Al Gore gay on live TV and made them French kiss each other. The replacement President was then killed by the Authority after being teleported into a crowd of angry Iraqi citizens and was replaced with the now President Kent).
Anyway, Kent has set up a Senate Committee to investigate Halo and charged them with the sole purpose of making trouble for Halo and finding ways to undo the massive amounts of progress Spartan has made during the last couple of months with his battery sales. So after getting word of this from Agent Wax, Spartan decides to visit the President and give him notice that he won’t tolerate any shit from him or his oil company allies.
Vivisection
After months and months of impotently standing around, Spartan finally does something. He visits the President in the middle of the night and makes it clear that he can kill the President anytime he likes. It’s great seeing Spartan play tough-guy and showing actual emotion, though Casey has to waste an entire page prior to the confrontation to Jack ranting about how he’s “evolved” from his old warrior self. While it’s nice that the denouncement came before the confrontation, it was still a bad thing to do since it makes Spartan seem spineless wuss who hates violence and confrontations. Still it was great to see Spartan get off his butt and tell the President that he and his oil company friends best not f*ck with him unless they want to die.
There are also some plot advancement towards the whole Grifter/Ladytron/Agent Orange/Government Agent/Zealot/Coda storyline as we get some background on the female agent assigned to track down the Coda. We learn that she’s an action junkie and who wants to beat up the Coda and prove that she’s the one true Alpha-Female….
Finally this issue is features artwork by Francisco Ruiz Velasco, who’s filling in for Dustin Nguyen. Velasco’s art is very good except for his drawing of Spartan. Velasco’s version of Spartan is a helmet-haired figure with a suit which looks less like a suit and more like armor.
