Lobo #1 – Skottie Young, Writer; Jorge Corona, Artist; Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Skottie Young has been all over Image Comics for the last decade-plus, and he’s worked in all sorts of genres in that time. But above all, he’s associated with one property – the long-running I Hate Fairyland, a bizarre, ultraviolent comic fairy tale pastiche. And that makes him a perfect match for this title, which is easily the most violent and absurd book DC has published in the main line in a long time. Lobo has always been a very odd character, as he’s objectively a villain – he killed his entire planet and now assassinates people for a living. But compared to this week’s other new solo assassin antihero, he’s never been taken seriously. He’s just off a massive brawl with Wonder Woman in DC KO, and he’s on the trail of a former space mob accountant he’s been hired to kill. He murders his way through the bar, and then he gets the phone call that alters his entire way of life.
The bounty is off. The assassin business has been sold. His employer is off to the space Caribbean. And Lobo needs to get paid from the last people he wants to see – the heads of the cosmos’ #1 entertainment corporation. A lot of jokes this issue are at the expense of the competition’s endless stream of superhero movies, particularly one starring two stab-happy antiheroes – both of whom, obviously, are similar characters to Lobo in some ways. This is especially funny as Lobo himself is making his superhero movie debut in the coming months, but the in-jokes don’t distract from this just being a pretty solid kick-off to a comic that doesn’t take itself seriously at all. Lobo is at his ultraviolet best here, and Jorge Corona’s art is a little grittier than Young’s own, making him a great fit for the comic. We’re off to a strong start, and the hook at the end means the killing is just getting started.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
