Review: Sideways 12

STORY

This is a pretty good issue to jump in on if you are new to Sideways. Its got some good action, world and story building, character advancement and enough just exposition in this issue to get you into the overall story and continue from here. This is pretty much what every comic book should be. The author cleverly gets up up to speed on the situation with captions from the local news reporting on an explosion at Dark Star Sciences in Gotham while we simultaneously observer the action as it occurs at the same time within the burning tower. Right away Detective Hopkins proves himself to be far more observant that most supporting characters in a superhero book by quicly identifying who Sideways is in real life. When Sideways attempts to deny this Hopkins hits him with several bits of evidence he’s collected in the course of the previous issues. Its a nice change of pace from the typical scenario in comic and establishes Hopkins as a legitimate detective. Sideways also does something equally against the typical comic trope in that he surrenders for arrest assuming that the officer will want to take him in now that his identity has been deduced. In a world of superheroes these two elements grounded this comic in a nice bit of unexpected but welcome reality. I appreciate little touches like this that don’t deconstruct the comic world established by years of DC continuity and style.

Hopkins main concern at the moment is not arresting a young hero but needing to understand the calamity that has occurred and Sideways complies with an exciting recounting of the events. We are introduced to the villains Ms Dominus and her head scientist at Dark Star, Portefoy. We find out that Dominus wants to use Sideways’s power to create dimensional rifts to explore and exploit other worlds for profit and that Portefoy holds a personal grudge against the hero. As the villains force Sideways to create a rift, within the dimension we see the horrific lifeforms that call it home, creatures called the Inverse who wish to invade other realities. We are also aware of a cloaked figure within who seems to have intimate knowledge of Sideways aka Derek and what he is capable of and the dangers of creating a sustained portal to this dark world. As can be expected the monsters force themselves into our world and Sideways commits and act of suicidal self-sacrifice to save the day and perhaps even the whold but is saved by a mysterious figure. Sideways is allowed to go home and it is here that were learned that he and his father are grieving, dealing with the sudden loss of his mother. In this scene we are given a hint about that his mother might have been more than she seemed to the pair and that she might even have been the cloaked figure inside the dark dimension Sideways teleports through. Further Derek, who is adopted, is suddenly introduced to his birth mother by his adopted father in a touching gesture as the father and son try to come to grips with their grief and angst over their loss. This proves to be an engaging set up for the next issue.

ART

The art has the 90s flair for dynamic action but without sacrificing story telling for pretty pictures. It is easy to follow the action and the colors are fantastic! The art team does an equally good job at rendering both the mundane and the fantastic within this book, bravo!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Frankly it is nice to see a hero being heroic, this is the sort of thing that has fueled the comic book industry since its inception. This comic has drama, excitement and even some humor and most importantly it engaged me enough not only to want to see the next issue but to collect the previous issues of the series to get the full story. This is what a comic book should do and be.Â 5 out of 5!

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REVIEW: Sideways 12
Writer: Shane Davis
Art: Kenneth Rocafort
Colors: Hi-Fi and Daniel Brown
Publisher: DC Comics