Review: SKYMAN #1

Story By:  Joshua Hale Fialkov
Pencils By:  Manuel Garcia
Inks By:  Bit
Colors By:  Marta Martinez
Letters By:  Nate Piekos of BLAMBOT
Publisher:  Dark Horse Comics

A new superhero has been added to the superhero corner of the Dark Horse universe, and his name is Skyman.  The government has been running the Skyman Program for decades after the loss of Captain Midnight.  Recently, the man donning the Skyman suit performed a terroristic attack in New York City.  This brought a black eye on the program, so now a replacement must be found.

What I Liked

With there being a shortage on minority heroes in comic books, its nice to see Dark Horse feature one.  Eric is a disabled veteran who lost the use of his legs when his plane went down in Kandahar.  However, he does not see himself as a cripple and hates to be referred to as one.  As we see, he still knows how to fight and take care of himself.  Just like a soldier, he’s picked himself up off the dirty and continues on.

The story by Joshua Hale Fialkov is new reader friendly.  A brief synopsis explains what happened between the previous Skyman and Captain Midnight.  We’re introduced to our lead character and his supporting characters, General Abernathy and Skyman’s handler, Lieutenant Sharp.  The art by Manuel Garcia is very clean.  He displays various angles in his panels and conveys actions (like Skyman flying through the air or punches being thrown) without a hiccup.

What I Didn’t Like

The pace of the book seemed very fast.  We go from the disgraced Skyman to Eric being “recruited” to the new Skyman making his grand entrance with the President.  That’s a lot for one issue.  This can be explained away since this is a four-issue miniseries.

I know that Lieutenant Sharp is supposed to be disliked, but man I can’t stand him!  He holds a grudge that someone like Eric was chosen as the next Skyman instead of himself, or other soldiers who have been training their whole life for this project.  Sour grapes.

Summary

Skyman #1 left me satisfied as a reader.  Even though the setup was quick, I couldn’t find much else to ask for out of a first issue.  I’m curious to see if Eric remains as a government operative as Skyman, or if he realizes he’s being used and tries to be independent.

Rating: 3 out of 5

This review is written in partnership with Pop Culture Network.  They can be found at their website http://www.popculturenetwork.com/

Timdogg

#ComicBookChronicles @CBChron founder. Editor-in-Chief of @thekliqnation. Comic book reviewer, podcaster #RABBLERABBLE