Oh, My God! They Killed Mitch! You Bastards: Review Of Resurrection Man #1

Mitch Shelley is a man with a problem. He can’t die. And when he does die, he comes back to life with some sort of freaky power that is related to the way that he died. Now, you might be asking yourself, “Self? How is that a problem? I’m all about things that don’t suck. Freaky powers and immortality don’t suck!” And you might be right, unless you’re Mitch Shelley.

Mitch has this to contend with:

Don't you just hate it when this happens? I hate it when this happens.

I don’t know about you, but I’m generally more in favor of freaky powers and immortality when they also coincide with being left alone by weird, massively powerful, possibly angelic, bounty hunter type things.  No, wait – especially then. Who’s with me?

Resurrection Man #1 is written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who created the character in 1997. In this relaunch, Mitch seems to already have a handle on how his powers work and knows who he is. I’ll be curious if they continue to go the “nanotechnology” route as the catalyst for his powers as they did in the previous incarnation of this title, considering that in the past it’s also been hinted at that there may be a more mystical source for Mitch’s resurrections. Mitch and Vandal Savage like to throw down a lot and both characters are featured in titles under the magically delicious DCnU line Vertigo Lite The Dark, so I wonder if there might be a crossover with Demon Knights at some point…if they both don’t get canceled before they make it out of infancy, anyway.

Art on this book is handled by Fernando Dagnino. I found some of the pencil work reminiscent of Stephen Bissette’s run on Swamp Thing. Visually, the style cues readers back to early DC and Vertigo books but, when used in conjunction with the more vibrant color work of Santi Arcas, finds a more modern edge.

I have high hopes for this book, but I worry: if DC kills it in the crib, will it manage to find a way back?