REVIEW: LOBO #2

The adventures of the Main Man continue in the next installment of LOBO. Having found that his next target is based on Earth in order to wipe out all life on it, Lobo is saddled up with some local partners. Problem is, a Lobo works alone. Dare we say that we smell a sitcom is in the making? Your review is here!

LOBO #2
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Reilly Brown, Nelson Decastro, & Alisson Borges
Colorist: Peter Pantazis
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Mike Cotton
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99 

Previously in LOBO: Lobo was seemingly able to murder the pretender to his name, though a blackout-fever-dream later revealed that this current Lobo was not only the body guard for Czarnia’s leader, but the lover of the Czarnian princess. Lobo was then contracted to kill a cadre of assassins who—upon further interrogation—were hired to target earth for an unknown buyer. Also, he doesn’t kill dogs. A lobo has got to have a code, after all.

ANTIHEROES DON’T HAVE PARTNERS, SILLY

Lobo’s contract takes him to Earth where he faces off against some assassins stationed under a theme park and another assassin who’s plan of extermination toes the line of being a potential Resident Evil plot. However, Lobo isn’t doing this job alone. Rhialla—the alien who contacted him about the job in the first place—believes he needs help from some of the Earth locals: three bounty hunters by the names of Rave, Luna, and Emily. This of course doesn’t sit well with Lobo who immediately tries to ditch them at the first chance he gets, only to find that he begrudgingly does need their help. Hilarious hijinks ensue.

Cullen Bunn has managed to give Lobo a great narrative voice. While the overall plot is just okay, the actual dialogue and narration itself is fun and amusing. Lobo is sassy and obsessed with posturing in front of the perceived amateurs, though his constant need to stick to his code makes him an interesting character to study. Of course, antiheroes are always a ton of fun to watch develop. Lobo’s backstory proves promising, though a little on the Harlequin romance side, which, though interesting, seems a little odd to be in a book about an alien bounty hunter.

As said before, the plot isn’t particularly engrossing and doesn’t really have a lot that makes it stick out from the sea of DC books out there. It so far follows a plot that has been done several times—hero is saddled up with partners even though he “works alone”, said partners save his rear, hero rethinks his position on not having partners, etc.—with nothing really that gives it an interesting twist. While it might be enticing for some to find out who has gone through great pains to destroy the Earth, it’s not really enough to amp the book up plot-wise. Plus, Earth is always in danger. This time isn’t really much different.

Also, when were the zombies activated? Bunn bounces the reader from Emily explaining the plan of the human-skin wearing robot assassin, and then suddenly the reader is zipped into a quick zombie plot. It’s a tad jarring.

JAIME HYNEMAN IS A BOUNTY HUNTER?

While the new character design of Lobo is great and helps bring the character out of the Liefeldian style that the previous Lobo embodied, the artwork is pretty standard for a DC title. The team of Brown and Decastro that render the majority of the comic do a fairly good job of giving an action heavy book movement. Pantazis’s colors are also striking and make the book very pretty to look at overall. Borges’ artwork for Lobo’s brief flashback provides a good contrast from Brown and Decastro’s work, showing the reader what’s past and what’s present. It should be noted that Borges’ art fits the Harlequin romance back story.

What’s interesting about the artwork in this book is two of the Earth bounty hunters, Rave and Emily, though Luna’s character design is a little on the typical fit heroine side.

First, there’s Emily a fourteen-year-old tech-savvy savant. She’s more heavy-set than the typical DC heroine, however she doesn’t fall into the character category of “she’s plump, therefore she must be useless in a fight”. She’s very capable of handling herself and indeed does so, saving Lobo in the process. It’s a nice change of pace from the stereotypical norm of portraying non-svelte characters as being physically useless.

Then there’s Rave whose character design is incredibly distracting as he looks a lot like Jaime Hyneman from Mythbusters, sans beret. Whether this was a conscious choice or a coincidence on the part of Brown and Decastro, it’s still amusing to see a mythbuster team up with Lobo to save the planet.

OVERALL: DOESN’T STAND OUT IN A CROWD

LOBO #2 is entertaining at best and familiar at least. While Lobo’s backstory and the mystery of who hired the assassins are potentially promising plot lines, the “I work alone” plot is a bit standard and really not enough to keep things interesting. Plus, the last assassin’s plot to destroy the Earth felt more like he played a lot of Resident Evil than anything else. Though a lot of the artwork is standard issue for a DC book, the colors do make the book pop and it’s definitely a plus that Brown and Decastro are experimenting with different body-types for heroines instead of the usual fit-and-athletic body type we normally get. Overall, LOBO #2 is a pretty book to look at, but it’s nothing particularly special in the way of plot.