Review: Mystery In Space #1
Mystery In Space #1 is exactly the sort of comic I should like, with a hook and a narrative that implies pulp science fiction fun. Heck, it meets the basic requirements pretty easily. There's spaceships, space stations, a talking space dog, and the return of Captain Comet. There's a telepathic chick who Matrix-fus some bad guys. There's a villain who needs a respirator and looks like he was crispy-fried by somebody who got particularly irked with him one day in the Arby's kitchen.It's too bad all the fun has been drained away from these elements through some sort of secret alchemy. Starlin's script takes itself a bit too seriously, leaving the occasional "witty" line like "For one thing there aren't all that many of us psychics around. And telepaths that can bench-press a Buick? Until ten seconds ago, I was pretty certain I was it," just sort of lying there, twitching and wanting to be noticed because they're cute and funny dammit. Starlin just can't add the light touch needed to make material like this succeed for me without making sure I know he's adding it, and I find that very distracting.
There are bright spots: Shane Davis's art, while harkening back to the 90s, does do a fairly good job of telling the story a good deal of the time. He handles the action scenes well and the cinematic framework he's working in suits him. While I won't be checking out future issues, I'm pretty sure that existing Starlin fans are going to get the hit they need from this work.
A copy of Mystery In Space #1 was provided by DC Comics for purposes of review.
