I enjoyed the first issue, and this second is also interesting. Deconstruction of the superhero is a pretty old trope and I can't help but feel that it could do with a rest, however: this isn't Watchmen. Jim Krueger is a decent writer, but he isn't in the same league as Alan Moore, and nor is he Jeff Lemire, whose Black Hammer is one of the best comics of the decade. If the writing can steer the fine line between being about this now forgotten group of heroes and the emotional and personal problems of those heroes, then it promises to be a good addition to the cannon. On the strength of this issue, however, I have my doubts, as far too much time is spent on Caul's past. It isn't that this is bad, or that Krueger does a bad job of it: it is just that we've seen it done so many times before and some of the greatest writers in comic books have already done it better than he can.

The art is a separate problem in it's own right. Let me be honest, the art is awful. I can live with the sketchy pencils (although I am getting tired of all of the artists who think that it is cool, but just aend up being third rate derivatives) and the low-rent inking. The lack of detail in facial expressions is a huge turn off, as I see little coming out of the visual story telling and comics are a visual medium. My biggest problem, however, is with the colouring. Oh, dear God, is the colouring abysmal! Everything is just so dark! It is almost impossible to work out what is going on in the majority of panels due to all of the black and brown. This hampers the story telling no end, and could well be the nail in the coffin for this series. Well-Bee's pencils and ink are bearable, but please employ a professional colourist to sort out this shit.

I want to read on, but my patience will only last so long. If the colouring is fixed then I can overlook some of my other criticisms, but if it isn't, then I may only be around for another issue or two. more