Lobo Cancellation Special #1 – Kyle Starks, Writer; Kyle Hotz, Artist; Dan Brown, Colorists
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray – One of the best things about DC right now is that they’re not afraid to get weird. That means occasionally putting out oddball projects that don’t quite fit into anything else – like this one-shot oversized comic by master satirist Kyle Starks and monsters-and-mayhem artist Kyle Hotz, starring the villainous Czarnian bounty hunter who has not had a solo series for a very long time. This book is violent and crude enough that it feels like it should be a Black Label series – but it’s not. Instead, it takes place between his role in Omega Men way back when and his recent appearance in Superman. He’s been spending that time on an alien world, stranded after his bike was stolen. He’s killed 99% of the world of humble farmers, but keeps one village alive to keep him company – the entire group all hating each other. That is, until a mysterious ship arrives on the world with an offer and a contract.
And just like that, Lobo is back in business, taking a job for a race of octopus-like aliens who have a missing princess in the custody of a sadistic warlord who wants very much to be Lobo. This issue specializes a lot in some of the most creative alien carnage I’ve seen in a comic, such as Lobo graphically giving himself a concussion to make it impossible for an alien brawler to read his mind. But amid all that, it also spotlights that Lobo is a desperately lonely being who takes companionship where he finds it, and also has some lines he won’t cross. You mess with his pet, or you put children in danger, and he’ll go much further than he would for a contract. It’s big, messy, violent, hilarious, and everything else I’d expect from Starks. It’s also a great bridge between this and his recent, more complex appearances in House of Brainiac. Fans of the character from the 90s will be eating very well for a change.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
