REVIEW: Heroes: Vengeance #1

STORY BY Seamus Fahey, Zach Craley
ART BY Rubine
Publisher: Titan Books

Despite a huge drop in quality in seasons 2 through 4, Heroes has recently returned to TV screens.  Gone are some of the iconic characters from the show and in their place, new Peter’s, Clare’s and Zylar’s stand ready to take their place.  Also returning are the comic book adventures of the new Heroes, from Titan Books.  The staging of the new book is as a prelude, where previous books have tended to fill gaps left in the shows often complicated continuity.

Vengeance follows the origins of one of new enhanced (or EVO’s) characters, setting the scene for Oscar Gutierrez to steal the limelight as El Vengador, a luchador inspired vigilante who has decided that with great power, comes great aptitude for getting hurt and not be fazed by it.

This issue is written by Seamus Kevin Fahey and Zach Craley who between them have experience in working on Battlestar Galactica and Heroes respectively.  As such, the book feels like its a setup for something major.  I guess only time will tell as the problem with prequels, is that at some point they catch up to the cannon.  Dialogue wise, the book reads ok, with the characters in play, come across in a very stereotypical way.  This may be the setup before the fall or rise and again only time will tell.

Whilst the writing may be allowed the benefit of the doubt, at least for a while, the art, by Rubine, doesn’t get off as lightly.  There are parts that work really well, such as the interactions with Carlos, there are things that don’t quite work so well, such as some of the action scenes and there are bits that just scream “copied from a photo”.  Now as a rule I don’t particularly mind “photo art” but when the rest of the book is inconsistent, it does tend to become a little jarring.

Over here in the UK we haven’t had the Heroes Reborn series hit.  This book then becomes more than a prelude and more of an advertisement and interest creator for the big show.  Unfortunately, if this is the aim of the book then I am not overly impressed nor is my interest piqued.  I will be giving the new show a watch and it may be that after viewing the show my views towards the book may change.  However, with what is becoming a repetitive theme, only time will tell.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network

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