Hardware: Season One #6 – Brandon Thomas, Writer; Denys Cowan, Penciller; Bill Sienkiewicz, Inker; Chris Sotomayor, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Of all the Milestone launches, this one seemed to have the least to say based on concept alone – Static became the universe’s breakout character and POV entry point, while Icon was bringing in so much history and mythos. Hardware seemed to fall into a generic “Armored superhero” niche that was already covered by Iron Man and Steel. But in the hands of Brandon Thomas and the legendary art team of Cowan and Sienkiewicz, it’s turned into a fascinating tale of corporate sabotage. Framed for the Big Bang superhero boom by his former mentor, Edwin Alva, Curtis Metcalf was forced to go on the run and use his powerful suit of armor to defend himself – leading not just to some close calls, but to a near-tragedy as a young boy was seriously injured in one of the chases earlier in the run. Thomas set the tension up nice and high from the start and never really let up.
This final issue of the first volume pits Curtis against Reprise, a supervillain with the power to duplicate himself and a surprising weak point – his dupes shrink with each new clone he creates. It’s a fun fight scene, but it didn’t have the tension of the scenes in Alva’s corporate headquarters. As Curtis’ ally Barraki finds herself held hostage by Alva, she pulls a risky move to get free and engages in the best chase scene of the run. There are some surprising moves by other allies, great visuals, and a satisfying tie-up to the run as a whole and to the subplot involving the child accidentally injured by Hardware. Overall, I don’t think it hooked me quite as much as the recent Icon and Rocket series did, but it seems like all three of these and the new arrivals in wave two are leading up to something bigger. It’ll be interesting to see how the Milestone architects build a bigger shared universe here.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
