Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #5

This is the stuff that comic book dreams are made of. Read Full Review

It's a great follow-up to the work Williamson did with the long-dead Dodds in Knight Terrors. Read Full Review

The Sandman team of Venditti, Rossmo, Plascencia, and Napolitano continue to deliver a delightful story of a classic pulp hero through a modern lens. The gorgeous eye popping art and perceptive character development subsides any issues with pacing the story might have. Read Full Review

Wesley Dodds #5 sets up a finale that may hold further surprises or simply wrap up the story. Either way, this series has maintained a consistent quality as it's progressed. It's just plain good with some moments of brilliance. Read Full Review

Skillfully weaves together action, philosophy, and the blurred lines between right and wrong. The confrontation between Wesley and Colonel Breckenridge provides intense stealth and action sequences. Riley Rossmo's art continues to excel in capturing the noir aesthetic, with well-choreographed sequences and expressive facial details. Overall, the combination of compelling storytelling and impressive artistic elements makes this issue well worth the read. Read Full Review

Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #5 brings the penultimate issue to a close with the end of the mystery before a last-minute twist sets up a physical and emotional conflict in the finale. Venditti's detective noir style and execution are on point, and Rossmo's art is as good as it gets in this issue, so here's hoping the creative team can stick the landing. Read Full Review

ResearchReader

Feb 16, 2024

I cant believe I am saying this but Rossmo's art continues to get better. Like just take page 3, The look of Ms Belmonts face is worth a thousand words and Rossmo just nailed what Venditti was trying to get across in that panel. There are some great moments in the arts fine details across the book on that alone. As for the story, right off the bat, Dodds reflecting on what his gas actually does and adjusting it to be human is a small but well written detail. Venditti really get the character. Also can I say that verbal spare between Dodds and Colonel Malcolm Breckinridge was intense. Essentially the embodiment of the industrial war machine vs the pacifist Dodds. When the Colonel responds to Dodds about what is victory if it is done t hrough war crimes and the Colonel responds by saying that Victory is unimpeachable because war crimes are for the defeated, it was rather chilling. Venditti and Rossmo teaming up to deliver a great detective noir story that mixes art and story so well was not the team combo I expected but I am so happy with how this is turning out. Also one last note. Humphries better be ok, or we riot. more

+ Like • Comments (1)

Bats44121 - Feb 20, 2024 (edited)

Wesley Dodds was never a pacifist. Nor would most sane human beings when they realized what the depraved Nazi and Imperial Japan regimes were doing in their forms of chemical warfare, mass murder with chemicals, and horrific torture. This is the missing lede. So, no, sorry, Venditti may get Thanagar fine, but he does not understand Wesley Dodds at all.

Bats44121

Feb 20, 2024

What Total Nonsense. If you want to write about Thanagar or some imaginary dimension or Darkseid, and any of the other sci-fi nonsense, sure who cares what you write. Stick to adventures of "outer space," then. But when you are writing about the WWII era, there is a responsibility to have some credibility to reality, whether you are writing Green Lantern, Sandman, or any of the other WWII era stories. I keep trying to figure out if any of the "New Golden Age" writers remember we were fighting Nazi Germany in WWII. I am fine with all of their retcon story lines, but if they are going to put them in WWII-era, there are actual facts, and a lot of recorded history about the time. After Germany mass-murdered people with chemical warfare in W WI, they were building mass storages of Sarin chemical gas (12,000 tons), and of course mass-murdering millions in concentration camps with cyanide gas. A year before this 1940 story, in 1939, Nazi Germany starting chemical gassing people in Poland and by the time of this story they had 8 chemical gas murder center to eliminate undesirables to the Nazi regime. Then of course, the Holocaust. No excuses for any USA military corruption, but lets never forget what did actually happen. And I am starting to wonder if any of these writers know anything about the USSR yet? (As if Wesley contacting the USSR would work (massive eyeroll).) Did any of these writers actually finish high school? (Not perjorative, serious question). Or what did they learn? Let's be clear, we want to address USA's "sins" in WWII, the writers need to turn to Oppenheimer (wildly praised) and his insane atomic bomb, which was used on two mass casuality attacks in Japan. THAT would be a compelling and honest story. Yes, I know it is FICTION. But let us also remember WHY the JSA was so popular, and it was a counterargument to the truly depraved and unhinged enemies the world faced in WWII. more