newuniversal # 5 - Mystery

Warren Ellis enters another chapter in this well crafted epic. Ok, maybe saying epic is a bit early, but it does feel like that's the direction it's headed into... slowly. When I say slowly, I'm not talking about "decompressed storytelling" either. Ellis is taking his time to tell a well thought out story, but not wasting our time either. It's only issue #5 and there's enough characters that have been introduced so far that if Warren had used all of them in this issue it would have been a little confusing.

Ellis also doesn't resort to cheap shock tactics and plot twists to keep the reader interested. Instead he relies on good writing. We get the introduction of another revamped character from New Universe that you think is going to be a stereotype at first, but ends up being anything but. I don't know if the original character from the New Universe was like that or not, and it really doesn't matter. I'm starting to think the less you know or remember from the original New Universe the better.

Even though I wanted to see more of Justice and didn't get to see him at all this issue, I'm happy they took the time to concentrate more on other characters. We get a clearer picture of what the government's reaction is to having paranormals on U.S. soil, and some answers about the White Event. Yes the answers are a bit vague, but getting clear cut answers this early wouldn't be that interesting.

Again I've never enjoyed Salvador Larroca's art this much. He's keeping it a lot simpler then he did on X-Treme X-Men, and we should all be thankful for that. He gives this world a very realistic feel to it and it's exactly what the story calls for.

The bottom line is, if you're looking for a good story that isn't bogged down by continuity you should pick this up. It's simply good writing, with good characters and great art. You really can't ask for more.