Story: Wannabee
Reviewer: Paul Sebert
Writer: Joe Quesada
Pencils: Robert Teranishi
Inker: Soto
Colorist: Soto
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editors: Cebluski, Cadenhead, and Simons
Publisher: The Merry Marvel Marching Society
Ah life seemed so much simpler back in 2003. Sure the Tsunami line of books fell victim to a fan based backlash against quality written accessible material. Sure Bill Jemas’s fall from power was bizarre and spectacular. But for one brief shining moment comics fandom was united in it’s contempt for Ron Zimmerman. Oh and a guy named Paul Sebert started writing the Marvel News & Views column for a site hosted by 411 Mania. I wonder what ever happened to that guy?
Oh and the first issue of this book seemed like a big deal at the time.
Alas somewhat like Kevin Smith’s Spider-Man/Black Cat mini-series, this book would be a victim of cruel fate. Between Joe Quesada’s day-to-day responsibilities and the abrupt departure of artist Joshua Middleton this book’s production was pushed back time and time again. And like many readers to be honest, this title fell off my radar. So after all this time the only question left is, was this issue worth the wait?
Not really.
For those who forget what this book is about, the concept is that it follows a revolving cast of inner city youth with super powers aren’t superheroes. Instead left without homes they have to scrap together just to survive. Oh and X-23 made her first appearance in the Marvel Universe in this title, even though the desperate street walker bares little resemblance to the furry suited warrior running around the X-titles right now. Oh and there was something about one of the ghost of one of the girl’s father floating about.
Anyway in this issue a dangerous pimp hires a mutant youth named Bobby AKA Felon who has the ability to have his spirit leave his body and take control of other people to go after X-23. Bobby isn’t a bad person, he just wants enough money to take care of his baby brother and get out of town, but well desperation has apparently gotten the better of him.
While the base concept is interesting and the characters are fairly well conceived at this point it basically suffers from a lack of direction. With only one issue to go in this ongoing turned mini-series we’re no closer to wrapping up any of the book’s numerous subplots.
Art wise Robert Teranishi tries very hard to imitate Joshua Middleton’s art style but never quite manages to match the energy of the title’s original artist. I found Sotto’s candy-like coloring somewhat distracting. It’s not poorly done, but while this color scheme worked one the rave scene in the first issue, it doesn’t quite work in the dark ghettos of this issue. Perhaps Sotto would have been a better choice to work on a book like Araña or Sentinel.
The sad thing at this point I’d much rather read a 32-page interview with Joe Quesada and the rest of the people involved in this project on what went wrong.
