Review: Resurrection Man Vol. 2: A Matter of Death and Life trade paperback (DC Comics)

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's New 52 Resurrection Man initiative has been a remake that improved upon the original, but Resurrection Man Vol. 2: A Matter of Death and Life is a weaker follow-up to the first superlative volume. A crossover that gives Resurrection Man Mitch Shelley short shrift and a couple of instances where the book zigs when it might have zagged slows the book down, even as this final volume builds to an interesting conclusion.

[Review contains spoilers]

The dividing line between the first and second volumes of Resurrection Man is this book's introduction of Mitch's girl Friday Kim Rebecki. Rebecki is a private investigator with the power of psychometry, which means she can "read" things that she touches; employed to find Mitch, she discovers his innate goodness when they touch, almost immediately falls in love with him, and joins Shelley for the rest of his adventures. But I felt the writers were more enamored of Rebecki than I as the reader was; the "instant connection" between Shelley and Rebecki saves time, but it supersedes the building of any genuine chemistry that might make us care about Shelley and Rebecki's relationship.

Rebecki is at times a highly-skilled fighter, at times a damsel in distress depending on what the story calls for; it's also distinctly annoying that Shelley keeps referring to her as "Kim Rebecki" instead of just "Kim." Femme fatale assassins the Body Doubles do not alone a supporting cast make, but I didn't find Rebecki that strong of an addition to the team.

Also, I felt at times Abnett and Lanning substituted generic action scenes for actual story or plot. The first chapter has both Rebecki and supernatural serial killer The Butcher stalking Shelley; Rebecki and Shelley meet, the Butcher and Shelley fight, and then the Butcher is magicked away and never heard from again. To be fair, possibly the series's cancellation pre-empted some major plotline regarding the Butcher, but as it stands it feels like action for action's sake. One up side is that Fernando Dagnino's art, which varies from very detailed to very sketched as the story requires, takes on a Tom Mandrake-like quality in the supernatural fight sequences.

Next comes the two-part Suicide Squad crossover also collected in Suicide Squad Vol. 2: Basilisk Rising. Having read the crossover in the context of both books, I can say it matters much more in the context of the other title than this one -- Deadshot recovering from injuries, a death on the team, and so on, including how severing Shelley's hand factors into Amanda Waller's plans later on. In the face of all of that, Shelley basically just chases the Squad and throws energy bolts at them; on its own this might be fine, but following the Butcher story, it seems like the writers are treading water for three issues.

What follows is much the same. Rebecki's powers give her "flashes" that tell her where to go -- which means, for instance, the writers can move Shelley and Rebecki to the hidden base of Shelley's ally the Transhuman without any in-story reason for how they discovered it except that Rebecki "just knows." There, they fight robot guards for four pages -- no reason other than to take up pages -- rest a couple pages, then fight the horde of angels that want to claim Shelley's soul. The angels and demons were one of the best parts of the first volume, imbuing Resurrection Man with a supernatural quality that's a nice counterpart to the original Resurrection Man series's purely sci-fi bent, but I thought the angels just "popping up" here lacked the first volume's mystical majesty.

Surely the best part of this chapter is the end and the inspired deal Shelley makes with the angels and demons. This foreshadows the book's conclusion, also quite good, where Shelley completes the bargain; one shame of Resurrection Man ending is that we don't get to see what exactly the Devil might have planned for Shelley later on.

The final two chapters plus the Zero Month issue may again have a bit too much shoot-'em-up, but Abnett and Lanning's big reveal -- that the man hunting Shelley is in fact the original Mitch Shelley, and the Resurrection Man is a clone -- was a good and unexpected change from the original series. Though "clones" as a concept may be overdone, I thought thematically this worked to bring Shelley full circle, from being concerned that he might revert to being "bad" again to now possessing his own "life" where he's always been "good." I also appreciated that the writers gave a nod to the mysterious figure that injected the original Shelley with the tektite serum, even if they didn't reveal his identity; I had thought this looked like a member of Darkseid's Deep Six team, personally, and I was eager for this book to have an Apokalips connection, but that's something else the cancellation pre-empts.

A final upside to the latter half of Death and Life is pages and pages of art by Jesus Saiz and Javier Pina, whose clear art I enjoy. (I also note that the artists put the Body Doubles in far more sensible outfits than Dagnino did.)

The first new volume of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Resurrection Man offered some good Fugitive-esque done-in-one issues, a heavy dose of the supernatural, and some philosophical meandering, all ingredients for a successful second run of the series. Unfortunately, Resurrection Man Vol. 2: A Matter of Death and Life trades much of that for an action scene per issue whether the book needs it or not, and maybe that's a signal that the book had run its course. I'd be happy to see DC continue Mitch Shelley's adventures in a couple of specials, and I still hold out (probably foolish) hope we might see another collection of the original Resurrection Man series some time.

[Includes original covers]

GI Combat and more, next week.

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Review: Resurrection Man Vol.1: Dead Again trade paperback (DC Comics)

There are plenty of DC Comics New 52 series based on old titles long since ended, of which Hawk and Dove and Deathstroke are just two examples. But the most successful of these so far is Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's new take on their old classic, in Resurrection Man: Dead Again. Here's a sequel that's an exceptional improvement on the original, taking the classic Resurrection Man's core character (and even his foes, the Body Doubles) and re-imagining them in a manner that creates a more cohesive world than the original. Resurrection Man is already cancelled after its second volume, but readers have an enjoyable book here irrespective.

[Review contains spoilers]

From the first pages, Resurrection Man improves on the original by presenting protagonist Mitch Shelley as more realistic and at the same time more supernatural. On just the second page, Abnett and Lanning reveal that Shelley's resurrections actually hurt, whereas in the original series Shelley's rebirth seemed so effortless he once died over and over just to be gifted with the best power. This new Resurrection Man is a story where dying is nothing to be taken lightly, closer to what the audience imagines they might experience if they had Shelley's abilities.

On the other hand, no sooner does Shelley board a plane then he's attacked by what seems to be an angel. Whereas the former Resurrection Man faced mostly science-fiction threats (and his murderous ex-wife) in the early issues of that series, here Abnett and Lanning address the metaphysics of being a "Resurrection Man" right from the first issue. Though fantastical, here again Abnett and Lanning offer a more "realistic" examination of the issues surrounding Shelley's situation than the sometime-superheroics of the original series.

Equally improved are Shelley's constant nemeses, the Body Doubles. These buxom assassins, introduced in the original series, reeked of 1990s overstated costumes and stale quips, though they proved popular enough (or DC marketing so hoped they'd catch on) that they appeared on their own in a couple of one-shots and miniseries. But if their popularity is in dispute, their place in the Resurrection Man still never quite made sense; as a couple of random hired guns, Shelley could have as easily just fought Lobo.

In Dead Again, however, the Doubles -- while still buxom and maybe even more sexually gratuitous under Fernando Dagnino's pen than they were originally with Butch Guice -- know Shelley, had worked with Shelley, even looked up to Shelley; even the Doubles' suggested relationship with one another has its origins with Shelley. By the end of the fifth issue, they've even become Shelley's allies to an extent, part of Resurrection Man's new supporting cast that also includes a nineteen year-old supervillain trapped in an old man's body.

Dead Again is perfectly workable, without the obvious signs of what might have lead to the title's demise as in Static Shock, Mr. Terrific, Hawk and Dove, or even Grifter. If anything, Dead Again is slow to start and not terribly well-served by its first issue, which mostly involves Shelley fighting the angel-creature and jumping out of an airplane (not terribly different than the first issue of Grifter). It's action-oriented, which works for Grifter, but Resurrection Man is stronger in the second chapter when the mystery of Shelley's origins comes more to the forefront, and certainly in the sixth and seventh chapter, which are one-off episodic stories of the kind that made the original Resurrection Man series a fan-favorite.

Another drag on the new Resurrection Man -- not a reason for cancellation, but a way in which the new series is lesser and not greater than the old -- is that Shelley's pre-Resurrection Man persona is surprisingly unlikable. Abnett and Lanning get credit for a deft Deathstroke cameo in Shelley's origin flashback, but Shelley as weapons-contractor-and-general-jerk is less captivating than Mitch Shelley, mob lawyer from the classic series. While the Body Doubles' role in Shelley's origin remains inspired, when Shelley lets a soldier die and then whines when he himself is injured, the audience finds him pathetic more than just "evil." That Shelley is now concerned he might one day revert to being that "bad person" is an interesting twist for this new series, but Shelley's old persona doesn't carry the true threat Abnett and Lanning might have intended.

A nice touch is that, in addition to all that Dead Again adds to the Resurrection Man mythos (which before now didn't exist, but anything can happen), the book ends about where the original Resurrection Man series began -- with Mitch Shelley heading to a library to try to piece together his old life. This was logical, in the original series, which also used email and instant messaging in a kind of futuristic fashion; now, when the Body Doubles transport instantaneously through something called a Matter Hammer, Shelley seeking out a library seems (if unfortunately) quaint. If Abnett and Lanning see fit to have a librarian named Irma waiting there for Shelley, in homage to the classic series, that would be great.

Mr. Terrific, again, is an example of a DC New 52 series that was enjoyable, but both art and writing were rough enough to explain its cancellation. But Resurrection Man: Dead Again is a book with no too-obvious flaws except perhaps it doesn't star a franchise character, and if it explains the book's now-second cancellation, then it also makes it too bad all the more. At least there's one more volume still to go.

[Includes original covers, just two slim sketchbook pages from Fernando Dagnino]

First up next week, it's the DC New 52 Superboy: Incubation -- and then, the Collected Editions review of Superman: Earth One Vol. 2. Don't miss it!

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Review: Resurrection Man Vol. 1 (classic) trade paperback (DC Comics)

DC Comics's collection of the first fourteen issues of the 1990s series Resurrection Man is many things. Foremost, however, it may be a message in a bottle sent from an era that could be one day known as a golden age of DC's titles. Existing or coming in short order around the same time as Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Resurrection Man began were Chase, Hitman, John Ostrander's Spectre and Martian Manhunter, Mark Waid's Impulse, and Grant Morrison's JLA, and Starman was just completing its second year.

These are comics that seem dated, but represented a certain amount of creator-driven, and yet continuity-based, creativity that lacks now in DC's line. This was a time of DC taking chances, with fan appreciation if not commercial success.

DC released this Resurrection Man volume in conjunction with the New 52 Resurrection Man series by Abnett and Lanning; with the latter cancelled, it's unlikely we'll see a classic Resurrection Man volume two. The fourteen issues collected here, however, run the gamut of what an offbeat series Resurrection Man was, somewhere between The Fugitive and Dial H for HERO -- suspenseful, often droll, just a little scary, and with a good helping of 1990s melodrama mixed in.

[Review contains spoilers

Aside from a three- and two-part story toward the beginning and end of this book delving into Resurrection Man Mitch Shelley's origins, Resurrection Man largely consists of single issue stories that find Mitch traveling from town to town, seeking clues to his old life and helping right wrongs in the process. Resurrection Man could very well be an old television show. Every time Mitch is killed, he's resurrected with a new power that just-so-happens to lend to the predicament in which Mitch finds himself.

Two of the best examples are issue #8, where Mitch befriends a young boy and his monster-hunting father, and issue #13, where Mitch solves a case for a town sheriff. In the latter (illustrated by Mike McKone), Mitch is the victim of a serial killer, and his new mind-reading powers allow him to piece together that the killer also murdered the sheriff's daughter. After the sheriff takes revenge, Mitch volunteers to accept responsibility and go to the electric chair to save the sheriff's career. Bloody (though not by today's standards), horrifying, and weird, "Murder So Sweet" rings of a kind of EC Comics horror story, full of murder and sacrifice and secrets.

Issue #8, "Tricks or Treats," in contrast, has a simple Silver Age feel to it. Mitch -- often dressed in a 1990s "tough guy"'s black hat and trench-coat -- takes pity on a young boy who's embarrassed that his father hunts Bigfoot, essentially. Mitch is gifted with shape-shifting powers, coincidentally, and he's able both to turn into a kid himself to help the boy fight bullies, but then also to turn into the monstrous "Howler" and save the father's reputation. It's a story that's surprisingly heart-warming given the dead-eyed skull-face on the front of this collection, and it demonstrates the versatility of Abnett and Lanning's un-killable, infinitely-powered hero.

Indeed whereas the New 52 Resurrection Man is introduced in DC's supernatural "Dark" line, and the logo for the classic Resurrection Man has a fedora-ed Shelley in silhouette reminiscent of the priest in Exorcist, this volume is more often in the sci-fi/superhero genre than horror. The second issue has a compulsory appearance by that era's Justice League (complete with Electric Blue Superman); it's frightening when Shelley's mob-connected wife and business partner drug him with rat poison and then stab him repeatedly, but it's back to super-heroics when Mitch, armored like the Fantastic Four's Thing, takes on the mob. Though Shelley dresses like a goth idol, he was a lawyer in his former life, and there's some disconnect between how Shelley looks (or how a superhero needed to look at the time) and his general interests and demeanor in the story.

It's surprising further that Abnett and Lanning never get into the psychological or spiritual aspects of Shelley being a "Resurrection Man," though this may come later (farther along, they teamed Shelley with Peter David's then-mystical Supergirl). By the sixth issue (a Genesis crossover tie-in), the reader senses Shelley's powers are science-based, and by the end it's clear Shelley is resurrected through "tektites" in his blood (what science and sci-fi would call "nanites" now). Never does Shelley seem afraid to die, worried he might not be resurrected, or even concerned about the pain of dying (Garth Ennis's Hitman having gassed, drowned, blown up, and run over Shelley is played for laughs). This is the direction Abnett and Lanning went and it's not wrong per-se, but there's an amount of angst missing in Shelley's resurrections that's surprising either for our time or the series's.

Irrespective, while Abnett and Lanning's classic Resurrection Man is not "deep" necessarily, it's an example of some masterful storytelling. Another highlight is an issue set in Gotham City in which the authors seem to be writing Batman, and not Resurrection Man at all -- until it becomes apparent that the victim of all three of Batman's cases are Shelley. This kind of subtlety surely makes up for latter sequences where Shelley, dressed in uncharacteristic blue spandex, infiltrates a secret lab called The Lab and trades quips with a mad scientist called Mr. Fancy. Where series artist Butch Guice draws Resurrection Man at its least superheroic, it shines; when guest artists draw the super-nineties female assassins the Body Doubles (whose synonymousness with Resurrection Man I've never understood), Resurrection Man dips, only for a moment, into the same old thing.

Still, what largely defines Resurrection Man (and Chase, and Hitman) was that at a time when superheroes were in their (relative) heyday at DC with the new success of JLA, Resurrection Man was a book that went the other way, with a (mostly) non-costumed protagonist and a genre-bending focus, closer at that time to something like Starman. There's not so much of that kind of thing out there right now, unfortunately.

[Includes original covers (with logos -- possibly these were from before DC could remove the logos)]

That's your look at Resurrection Man classic. Coming up, the Collected Editions review of Resurrection Man, New 52!

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