Reviewer: Jesse Baker
Story Title: Coda War – Part One: The Shot Heard…
Written by: Joe Casey
Penciled by: Pascal Ferry
Inked by: Sandra Hope
Colored by: Randy Mayor and Wendy Broome
Lettered by: Jared Fletcher
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Publisher: Wildstorm/DC Comics
The Coda War has finally begun as Joe Casey devotes the entire issue to Zealot and her Kill Bill-type quest to wipe out the Coda. Unfortunately for Zealot, in this issue she gets confronted by the Grand Sarin, the chief assassin of the Coda and a Boba Fett look-alike to boot. She makes her debut with a bang by beating the living daylights out of both Zealot and Agent Orange. The issue ends with Grifter preparing to send the remote controlled Ladytron into battle to save his former teammate.
A bland issue as we focus solely on Zealot. This is bad because Zealot has never been the most exciting member of Wildcats and focusing an entire issue on her is not a good idea. I’m really disappointed that we didn’t get to see a follow-up to the Coup D’Etat crossover and see how Jack and Dolby were dealing with the new status quo in America. Or even a shot of how Wax is dealing with the Authority now running the government and how this affects the scam he’s pulling by using his powers to impersonate his evil and now quite dead boss.
Decent art for the issue as fill-in artist Pascal Ferry does a great job. He does a good job at drawing this action driven issue and pulls off some good visuals as Zealot kills several Coda assassins on motorcycles.
