Gold Key/Dynamite Entertainment 2016
Written by Phil Hester
Illustrated by Brent Peeples
Coloured by Morgan Hickman
Lettered by Simon Bowland
Magnus fights for his life against a horde of killer robots. Samson confronts a terrifying beast beneath New York. Dr. Solar unleashes her power. Turok suffers a devastating loss. And all four heroes discover the walls of their reality crumbling under the attack of a specter from their past.
Magnus — a secret agent of sorts monitoring the rise of military artificial intelligence and robotics around the globe
Turok — a reality television star and tribal park ranger in charge of some rather unique specimens….
Solar — a young doctor on a mission of mercy in an impoverished part of Africa…
Samson — a homeless man ranting at unseen monsters on the streets of Manhattan. All drawn together by a force that threatens to tear not only our world apart, but every possible world in the multiverse.
This is an incredible series so far. That these characters from different points and time in history with no real links to one another should find themselves on this world in these situations is the perfect way to both pay tribute to their origins as well as get readers excited for a possible future. Personally I’d read a limited series based on any of the above bio’s on them, I mean all four.
One of the things Phil does this issue is start letting the characters see the cracks in reality regarding themselves. Yes each one is still being told in parts exclusive to each character but the theme is the same throughout each. He’s been telling one heck and intelligent story each one with enough information to really grab the reader’s attention and keep it not to mention leaving them wanting more.
The characterization here has been superb and with the added information we’ve seen the characters get this issue I can’t wait to see what happens with them next. I mean constant evolving characterization should always be the goal and it looks like that’s about to hit in a big way. It’s as exciting as the story itself to see this happen to the characters.
Brent has been incredibly solid on the interiors here. Switching between their pasts and present was a seamless transition. The way he uses pages and panels for the story’s flow is great. That each segment seems to have it’s own style and attention to detail, in different ways, make things fascinating. From seeing robots, to military, to monsters and finally dinosaurs the imagination and skill he possess in bringing them all to life is fantastic.
This is one of those times when you can take pre-established characters and throw into a new reality and it works as well as their originals.