Super-Powered Con Man vs Alien Overlord
By: Andrew Hines
Cole Cash has long been a favorite of mine since he was created by Jim Lee (imagine that). Before he got canned with the rest of WildStorm, he was a real badass with a silver tongue and all the ammo he could carry. He ended up being a rather intriguing character during James Robinson's run on WildC.A.T.s, due to his dealings with boss Jacob Marlowe. As I recall, he was also the only full-blooded human on the team of Kherubim-Daemonite hybrids. It seemed to be like putting Batman, a normal person without powers or special jewelry, in the ranks of the Justice League. So, you know, there's that. The higher-ups at DC have begun integrating the Daemonites into the standard DCnU.
As much as it pains (and surprises) me to say, Rob Liefeld's writing is actually better than his art, which is unfortunately still on the cover. This is actually the issue that brings out my inner geek to the X-TREEEEMMME!!! Sorry, I had to. Anyway, this is actually a decent issue as far as writing goes, but since it's Liefeld it can definitely be better. I want to like it, because it's Grifter, but for some strange reason it falls slightly short. Liefeld apparently couldn't even be bothered to write the dialogue, which was done by Frank Tieri. You can sort of let that one speak for itself.
The art is decent, because it's not whatshisname. Instead, the pencils were done by Scott Clark and the inks by Dave Beaty and colors were by Andrew Dalhouse. Like I said, the art is decent, not exceptional in anyway. I'd really like for something to stand out here, but it just doesn't. Really, the only good piece of art is the cover, which is done by Liefeld. The colors are about the only really good thing in terms of artwork.
This earns a B-. I like where the story ends and hoe we can see more of it when Liefeld's finished. It's good if you know the characters, but if you're just starting to know anything about Grifter or anyone from WildStorm, then check in later.
The only reason I didn’t dig deeper for problems is that I didn’t want it to just turn into an “I Hate Rob Liefeld” post. I love the character and he has a lot of potential, but Liefeld is tied to it, so it actually hurts more to see it get screwed up.
I checked it, since I love grifter, found it not very well written and dumped it.
Now, I know why…