9.5
this is a really interesting title, which sadly would probably be remembered as a small backdrop. around so much mediocrity.
By this point Rucka is probably seen as an old gard guy. Like he has been doing stuff since the 90s like Whiteout(a very good comics that people should check out) and he got pretty big 00s in dc. So he brings in a way this post crisis energy that i find missing in the way he treats those characters here. Personally i find DC extremely fractured right now and it has been this way for a long time. Not a lot of those iconic old character get the limelight or if they do, they hardly feel like characters, they are very rarely tangable and mostly just there for the one big story and bam they are gone. Continuity is out of the window. I know all this has not much to do with this comics, but it also has a tons to do because it makes those characters are usually just devices breathe and it makes it so efortlessly that it makes it seem like it has always been this way.
the characters feel deep, even if the deep is not explored at the start. Rucka always had such a good way with dealing with things under the surface, with those stuff that are not said. it feels that there is so much more to them and we just see them in this light because the situation is like that, while those characters still snow their nuance and have emotional layers. It's really impressive.
The story is also really feel strictured. It's tight, every issue very clearly defined, inspired maybe even too much by all the steps a heist fictions takes. It's nice because it does not feel slow, it feels purposful, we think with the characters we act with them and follow the processes. It's testament to how well rucka has though out the proccess. we know each step we take and we have to think through them. Again it humanizes the characters and shows us different sides of them in a very nonchalant way, but it shows us all the building blocks even to how for example in this issue the characters try to establish a relationship.
Another standout is the art. I'm just stunned at how art this beatiful goes unnapreciated too. Scott's art is obvious with tons attention to detail, with a lot warmt in it, compassion, but also fluidity in the expressions and the body motions. it feels like just by looking at it you could get the hang of what the characters are feeling. Yeah they are villains, but they are way more relatable, grounded and understandable than the heroes here. Way less flashy and even more mature and the arts helps a lot with this.
Overall it's a masterful comics, a very clear, without any misteps heist comics, very wonderful time that may even grow to something more but even know it's one of the big hits for me from dc and compared to birds of prey it blows them out of the water for me.once it ends i would write another review on it. more