Costumed James Bond Without the Camp
The Good: CAFU's art is just great as usual. The coloring is excellent, giving it some excellent realistic depth, and the action scenes are an interesting middle balance of dynamism that is subtle enough to work well.
I love love LOVE the way the issue title is drawn. Subtle and creepy, integrated into the artwork perfectly for maximum effect. Definitely one of the best depictions of an issue title I've ever seen.
This issue does a very good job at establishing Grifter's talents. His suave nature and mastery of reversing the double cross are emphasized very naturally, and I already fell I understand what kind of fighter Grifter is.
The plot is quite intriguing, and there's a lot of very effective things done to grab the reader and make you think. Pay close attention any time anyone mentions 17 of any increments of time. There's a lot of things done that aren't quite lined up, in a good mysterious way, leaving us feeling as subtly disoriented as Cole is.
The Bad: The pacing in this issue is not very good. It tries to emphasize a fast pace, but CAFU's art doesn't QUITE capture that, it's more suited to a slow or medium pace. The story also has a tendency to fluctuate weirdly, giving the whole thing an off sort of feeling.
This was really not a good first issue. As much as we got some great insight into Grifter's m.o. and style we got very little insight into who Cole really is. He was the vessel for the story to run, but I still feel like I know exactly the same amount about this guy that I did when I started, which is next to nothing. It feels too much like we just got plopped into the middle of his life with little indication of what he's done before or what he's like on the inside. Nearly all of his internal monologues were about the mystery going on instead of internalization of any deep thoughts.
In Conclusion: 3/5
I honestly would've liked to give this issue more. I really would. This book oozes style, from the art, to the 17 Minutes mystery, and the fun almost non-campy-James Bond suave personality. It was a fun fun book. But the pacing wavered, which kept the book from really drawing me in, and the character is still a complete stranger without enough depth. It's an average start, and I hope it gets better, because honestly, it's just a few flaws short of being a very solid book.
