Review: Heroes For Hire #4

WRITERS:  Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

PENCILS:  Robert Atkins

INKERS:  Rebecca Buchman & Sandu Florea

COLORISTS:  Jay David Ramos & GURU eFX

LETTERS:  VC’s Joe Caramagna

COVER:  Doug Braithwaite & Rob Schwager

PUBLISHER:  Marvel

RELEASE DATE:  March 2nd, 2011

HEROES FOR HIRE #4 PREVIEW

Well kids, the sweetness of the new car smell on DnA’s street vehicle has unfortunately turned to the nauseous stench of a rancid hamburger someone has discarded under the back seat of a worn down Buick. Issue three began the slippery decent into mediocrity, but this story has gone from zero to disaster in under four issues. 

This issue revolves around Misty Knight and her rebellion against the Puppet Master’s control, a good premise, but poor art and execution killed this story before it even started. It never truly engaged the reader like the first two issues and it didn’t help to drive the overall story forward in any manner. The story was supposed to convey the mental duress and  mental toughness of Misty’s character, a hero that is being manipulated, but somehow finds a way to escape her captor. However, it came off as hokey and reminded me of all those horrible Marvel Presents storylines from the early nineties.

What’s worse is the sub par art that accompanies the story. In no way did Atkins bring any excitement with his art, it seemed as though he was just going through the paces and chose to match the mediocrity of the writing with more of the same. But the nail in the coffin was the fact that the story used continual flashbacks of the same sequences over and over. So not only were you treated to Atkins ho hum style once, but the same scene repeatedly assaulted you until you couldn’t wait to finally close the book. 

This issue was an overall disappointment and not something I expected to read from such an amazing writing team. It’s just sad that finally a book comes out that doesn’t need to rely on the Avengers or the X-Men to drive sales, a book that can sell with something as simple as a good story – and it begins to falter after only a few issues. Abnett and Lanning need to slow down the break neck pace that they are pushing this story into and rely on their skills to let a great story percolate for awhile. Take your foot off the gas before you drive this book into the wall!