Human Bomb #1 review

Former marine Mike Taylor has a recurring nightmare: he's at the White House, receiving the Medal of Honor, when energy seeping from him blows everyone up. In his day job as a construction worker at Ground Zero, he's idolised by colleagues, who are impressed that he's due to meet the President in a couple of weeks following heroism in Afghanistan. When a member of his unit shows up unexpectely on-site, as reports hit of suicide bombs throughout New York - including one killing the Mayor - Mike is understandably alarmed. Soon the guy is dead and Mike's fighting a man in black who says he's an experiment gone wrong, and must be terminated ...

Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti provide an efficient introduction to their latest Quality Comics revival, following recent mini-series starring new versions of The Ray, Phantom Lady and Doll Man. As in those books, head of super-human monitoring organisation group SHADE, Uncle Sam, appears. There's also someone named Joan who must be the superheroine known as Miss America. So we meet Mike, learn something of his past, and see how he reacts to a terrifying situation just as he's settling into civilian life. A flashback teases the encounter that led to his gaining super-power, and shows us that this isn't a man to be thrown for too long by the unexpected. Mike's in reaction mode for most of the issue, so it's a pleasure to see him cut loose towards the end.

Jerry Ordway is one of the strongest artists in superhero comics, with superb storytelling skills, a mastery of figurework and an understanding of how to compose a dramatic page. He never stints. working to give us a wide variety of people, getting backgrounds right and generally making the ride from first page to last smooth, but never boring. A couple of things I especially like are Mike's protective mask, a nod to the Forties Human Bomb, and the design of the antagonist - simple, but very effective.

It's an ongoing complaint in these parts, but I do wish comics companies would take more time to proofread; there's at least one typo in here, and one missing word. If I can spot them as a reader, why not editor Harvey Richards?

This doesn't feel like an unmissable comic, but it's very solid, entertaining and as a DC book, $2.99. If you have that spare, give it a shot.