About Heroes

Author: Kevin Grevioux
Penciler: Paco Medina
Inker: Juan Vlasco
Colors: Marte Garcia

I don't think I really got the point across in my review of issue 1 how much I wanted to hate this series. As a fan of the original New Warriors, I look at every incarnation (This being the fourth) with very prejudging eyes. They killed and bastardized the characters from my beloved team and you add to the formula the guy that wrote Underworld and I was bitching about the first issue before it was printed. Damn, I'm so glad I was wrong.

In this issue we get all kinds of fan service: depowered mutants, Night Thrasher, Wolverine, old New Warriors, and Jubilee's ever growing fun bags. The mystery of Night Thrasher's identity delves deeper as the autopsy of his remains comes back with partial DNA results. Jubilee is still trying to convince Sofia to join the team and we see more on the true identity of the new New Warriors. We learn a few code names and a few powers, but no one is really showing their personalities or talks about the past. As another treat to original New Warriors fans we catch up with Bandit, Night Thrasher's brother, who appears after a car accident that took his legs, has turned his life around and is now heading the Taylor Foundation. Ohh yeah and Wolverine makes an appearance just to remind us how horrible the stories in Wolverine Origins are.

I only caught a couple of the New Warriors line up. I'm pretty sure Decibel is Jono AKA Chamber, Blackwing is Barry Aka Beak, but that's really all I could tell. Since all of them are supposed to be depowered mutants and hardly any of them speak, it's really a mystery who the rest of the team are. Most people would probably claim that Night Thrasher is being a dickhead by taking in depowered kids and supplying them with new powers to fight. I think Dwayne is just acting like his normal self. Come on, this is the guy that threw Rich Ryder off the roof of a building because there was a pretty good chance that his powers would come back. Part of me wants to know more about the identity of some of these characters are, but all in good time. The story is moving right along and in no way does it feel decompressed.

Now let's talk about the other good parts of the book. For example Paco Medina’s art, which I think is a strong selling point. The guy can draw great action sequences and lively characters that are very expressive. I still didn't like the idea of Beak being turned into a model, but I'm sure that really wasn't his decision. Vlasco's inks really clean up Medina's art, these two were meant to work together. So, yeah third issue and we still have the big mysteries, with a new twist on the whole Night Thrasher ordeal by the end of the issue, but I really like the pace in this case. The thing that bothered me the most was that this book actually referenced Wolverine Origins and acknowledged it as part of continuity. But shit, I saw an editor's note, so I'm not complaining too much. A-