Matthew McGrath Comic Reviews

The pacing of the story is a bit off. Theres a reveal that comes too soon, in my opinion in the first issue, which makes the splash page fall flat. Dustin Nguyens (Wildcats, Streets of Gotham) illusions are rough pencils with watercolor-style highlights (Lemires All-New Hawkeye #1 also used watercolors to great effect.) The style here makes the panels come alive. People look soft and warm. The metal looks cold and hard. The readers focus is drawn immediately to the color. The story is not original enough to demand waiting for it monthly, but picking it up as a trade paperback would be worth it.

In the beginning the United States takes Chuck on as an employee. The government pays him a salary, but there is no exploration of how that relationship changes, evolves, and, presumably, dissipates. All that should have been expected in a story called Never Ending that concludes in just three issues.

Like a shot aimed carelessly, the characters in David Lapham's (Young Liars) Stray Bullet universe slam into random targets. Sometimes they lodge into a wall or crack a windshield, and sometimes they hit an innocent. Stray Bullets: Sunshine and Roses #1 is no different.

The final splash page from Tony Daniel (Detective Comics) also one to rival the last image of Superman #75. It doesn't take three pages to display it's size. It's just a sole page. In that classic ish, Kal-El's cape caught a staff upright in the rubble. It waved in the breeze and flew at half-mast for the fallen hero. In Superman/Wonder Woman #6, that cape is used as a shroud.