Reviewer: Tim Stevens
Story Title: Rain
Written by: Bob Harras
Pencilled by: Javier Pulido
Inked by: Alvaro Lopez
Colored by: J Rodriguez Studio
Lettered by: Clem Robins
Editor: Matt Idelson
Publisher: DC Comics
I tend to be a champion and/or great fan of books that just don’t last very long. The boneyard of my fandom includes such potential greats as Chase, Aztek, and Bloodhound. Soon enough, Breach will join them. And much like its predecessors, this book feels as if it has turned a corner towards something new in the mythology of the title…just in time to end next issue.
This month, for the first time, we see Breach using his gift/curse proactively. He chases after the Rifters and manages to defeat them in a way we had not seen before; in a way that, heretofore, seemed impossible. Even the tone seems different. Still a bit claustrophic and tinged with tragedy but also, for the first time, twinkling with the possibility of someone getting a happy ending out of this thing. Like the best moments that this book has had, the action is more fuel for an introspective story about families turn apart, but, once again, this time the book seems confident enough not to over clutter it all with excessive action set pieces.
Now there was nothing wrong with the direction or the tone of this book in the first place (again, much like its brothers-in-arms), but that does not mean that a little evolution is a bad thing either. You can feel the book “open up” this issue and I wonder, if not for next issue being its last, where the story would push itself after this. Sadly, that bit of potential will remain unrealized.
Javier Pulido’s work (with inking byAlvaro Lopez) here is predictably strong. There is a lot in his penciling that reflects Cliff Chiang’s style still from their time working on Human Target (another good one, gone too soon) which works out quite well since the book’s other artist, Martin, also has similar Chiang-esque affectations. My only disappointment with the art is that the book did not utilize Pulido’s extensive ability as a colorist as well. I know that Breach has a particular pallet it works in, but I would have liked to have seen what Pulido could have done within those dimensions. I guess, if I’m honest, that’s less a critique and more of a “Wouldn’t it have been cool if…” so I can’t very well hold it against the book.
