Raider of The Last Arc: Grifter #1-6 Review

Finally, a reboot you can sink your teeth into.  As I stated in an earlier review, I’ve been trying to get back into the game and the New 52 has been somewhat of a disappointment.  I say disappointment because no title I’ve read so far has been a true “reboot”. Everything so far has relied on at least some previous knowledge of character and/or story to truly get the most out of it.  Then a Grifter came to town.

Shortly after my Voodoo review , I noticed a Daemonite on the cover of a Grifter book, so I cracked the cover. Lo and behold, we have a parallel to Voodoo’s alien invasion arc!  So once more I find myself with a character I’ve never heard of, which is great, because with so many established “mainstream” characters, I love to experience the joy of discovering something new, even if it is only new to me.

Cole Cash (They do love their alliteration, don’t they?) is a former Special Forces Operator, an expert in infiltration and combat. For reasons yet to be explored, he’s deserted the military and become a small time con man, moving from mark to mark with his girlfriend Gretchen.  He’s about to see behind a curtain that he didn’t know existed… and he’s going to have a very bad day.

The story kicks off with promise; our hero is on a flight out of New Orleans, hearing voices in his head, and looking every bit the crazy guy at Wal-Mart. Turns out he’s overhearing the Daemonite hive mind, and there’s one in human form sitting in seat next to him.   Once it figures out that he can hear them, it’s game on.  Cole dispatches the alien in short order, but to the passengers, he just put a spike though the face of the nice lady in 7C.

The story over the next several books focuses on the idea that Cole has a view -very unwanted –  into the alien invaders’ communications. He can hear them, and by extension, see them moving about society in their human disguises. They are everywhere, integrated into our daily lives, living among us.  If it sounds familiar, it should. John Carpenter made an awesome sci-fi flick in 1988 called They Live with a very similar premise. It featured one of the best fight scenes ever put to celluloid. Roddy Piper and Keith David beat the living hell out of each other in a parking lot; it was an Oscar worthy performance if ever there was one!

Just because the premise is similar doesn’t mean it can’t be fun to read.  We get a flashback showing how Cole came to possess the ability to hear the Daemonites, and by the end of the first book, Grifter assumes his new identity and trademark mask. It’s not as moving as Violette putting on her mask for the first time in The Incredibles, but it is a nice moment in character development.

As we move forward, we learn that there’s some connection between the Deamonite invasion and Oliver Queen’s Q-Corp.  This gives us an excuse to meet and exchange some fire with Green Arrow.  It didn’t feel as hamfisted as the Green Lantern cameo in Voodoo; it was actually a refreshing diversion from a story that moves quickly.  Not only do we get a nice superhero action set piece, we get a new sidekick for Grifter in the form of Sofia Cordón, who happens to be a Q-Corp employee (and arms designer?).

Cole eventually brings the fight to the aliens, and although it’s fun to watch, we come to realize that he’s really kicked the hornet’s nest.  The aliens are everywhere and eventually our hero is captured and brought before alien middle-management.  Sofia embarks on a rescue mission, and a new Daemonite threat is revealed.

Writer Nathan Edmondson seems to have a clear vision of where we’re going, and how we’re getting there. The story is about as tight as you could want in the age of the decompressed story.  I really dig the pacing for the most part, and the reveals are generally well timed.

Midway through the current releases we get a changeup in the art team, CAFU and Jason Gorder hand over duties to Scott Clark and Dave Beaty.  I read all six issues of this review in one sitting, and I guess the biggest complement I can pay the teams is that for good or ill, I didn’t really notice the transition (consistency is king). Overall, the art is in a style that I really like. Sharp, thin lines, deep shading and colors that bring the action to the front while allowing the backgrounds to set the tone.  Color-wise, I’m still in love with the blue/purple of the Daemonites; they just jump off the page.

If Voodoo was a spy movie, then Grifter is a balls-out action flick. If you like chewing bubblegum and kicking ass, give this a shot before you run out of bubblegum.