All Posts Tagged With: "graphic novel"

As I expected, HRG just can’t keep a partner. He doesn’t work well with Syler, he doesn’t work well with Elle, he shot Claude, and was shot by the Haitian, who although only mentioned briefly, it stuns me that he is still employed by anyone since he betrayed the company and Angela. The reference to him being out of the country is also a setup for the next tv episode where Peter and Nathan go to Haiti to find him.

Anyway, back to the GN - In a rare GN moment, there is a direct relation to the TV series in that it starts off with the cleaning of the people Suresh had placed in cocoons.
This GN is chock full of TV references as the target is the vietnam vet that Merideth captured many years ago. Not sure why he was on Level 5, his power doesn’t appear all that dangerous and I am sure Level 4 would do, after all, wasn’t Hiro only on Level 2 or 3?

Dan Panosian first GN project has captured the Vet very well. He also has given Merideth a great deer in the headlights look as it is clear that she is not going to make a good agent, not with her empathy for the people they are hunting. I think he has even gotten Noah closer to Jack than anyone else in the GN world has.

Cliché, Cliché, why is it that all evildoers were messed up kids. Flint is no exception as this week’s GN begins with the ceremonial burning of the anthill that boys often do. Oh, and on top of the torturing of tiny little annoying bugs, Flint is cursed with a mean dad who uses his belt. Poor little Meredith, in her teen angst, explodes to protect her brother, burning down the house and presumably killing daddy in the process. Little Bro wants to learn to light fires too. Pyro. Hope my kids don’t grow up to be super powered killers just because they like to light the firepit once in a while.

And of course, to add to the cliché storytelling, the kids can’t be placed together. I know it is rare but it does happen you know.

“Knock me down and steel my teeth”? Do people really say this crap? I did a google search and apparently it is a popular phrase on redneck sites even making the SF Bay Guardian and a novel called “Billy Boy”. Ok, I’m obsessing on all the items that came up in my google search. 85 hits to be exact.

So Sylar went off by himself, couldn’t see that coming, could you? I mean after all, he is cocky, almost all powerful, feeding a hunger, and gee, having problems making friends. So he gets spit on. Not sure if that is Thompson or someone else but it is definitely a Company Man, you can tell by the suit. So Sylar hops into a car. Now I am not an expert spy but if you put your assignment tracker passwords on a license plate, someone is going to figure it out.

Once again, Sylar is feeling confident in his powers and doesn’t call for backup. Lucky him, hot girl needs help, Sylar gets to be the Hero. And he gets to take out not one, not two, but three powered opponents. Tina Ramirez, Hot girl with bad breath, Mike, a guy with enhanced stregnth and the third, we will never know as he is now a smoking skeleton.

Sylar makes the classic comic villain speach, describing exactly what he is doing to his victims. This usually becomes a fatal flaw that leads the villain to torture the hero just long enough for the hero to figure out how to escape.

Then, just when Sylar could lose control and maybe acquire some powers, Hot girl wakes up, (apparantly chlorine gas doesn’t keep you knocked out very long), and begs him not to kill them. So he calls his buddies at the company and the Haitian and HRG show up. Interesting that the Haitian is in white and all the other agents wear black. That raises so many potential theories that I couldn’t even do them all justice.

Sylar gets his first fan and the Haitian takes it away. Reinforces the anti-Sylar prejudice in the company as the one person who would attest that Sylar acted heroically won’t remember a thing. Seems like that will be a running theme throughout the Sylar story as he tries to be good but Peter, HRG, and everyone else continues to distrust him.

Chuck Kim captures Sylar’s thought process very well. I thought it was completely in character and insightful into the slow change from villain to hero. He has written many GN’s lately including Doyle, Elle’s first assignment, Donna’s big date, etc and all of them have been well received. I did have a problem with Sylar citing protocol when he has no formal company indoctrination but I can look past it. Alitha Martinez does an excelent job on power exhibitions. I like the glowing arms signifying the stregnth and the wisps of chlorine gas. It is comforting to see that even women artists draw the women hot. The only woman in the GN’s I can remember who wasn’t drawn hot was Candice/Betty. Is it ironic that her photo hangs in the gallery of dead agents along with Eden, Bob, Gael, Bianca, and a few others which appears in this GN? I didn’t even know she counted as a company agent.

What else did we learn? Sylar has voice powers. Looks like the bank job came in handy. He clearly has no control over it as he smoked one victim before we even learned his power.

Looking forward to next week