The Surgeon 1-5

• Story:
  John Pence (1-5)
• Pencils, original art:
  Zachary Dolan (1-2), Stan Yak (3),Olmar Zaldivar (4-5)
• Inks:
  Laurie Foster (1-2)
• Colors:
  Eve Orozco (1-2), Marcelo Briseńo (2), Pinkk3r (3-4), Rob Cloma (3-4), Trisha Marsical (5)
  Hedwin Zaldivar (5)
• Letters:
  Erek Foster (1-5)

Published by Unlikely Heroes Studios

buy them HERE.

Almost there.

This was a series that had an 'almost there' feeling for me. It's almost an engaging story. There's almost enough action to keep me interested. Dr. Jenny Hanover has almost enough back story to understand her as a character. The Surgeon's problem lies in its heavy emphasis on setting up the background. The people of Turtle Island, the Indians, the Hot Animal Machines all had some fill-in moments to explain their existence to me. Well and fine, I say. Better to be informed than left out of the loop. But was there a story? Was there an urgent need to remedy? Not really. Everybody just kind of sits there and waits for conflict to show up. There are no surprises, no accidental happenstance moments that would've kept me off balance in a better story.

Basically, Dr. Hanover agrees to stay in the community for a little while. She goes out and fights the Animal Machines on level ground single-handedly. Then she returns. Later in the book there's the dude I mentioned earlier, the mustached guy Rogers who accidentally drinks some poisonous liquid. Dr. Hanover tries to save him but can't. After some time she does indeed pack up her stuff and heads out.

You could say The Surgeon doesn't make any story telling mistakes, and is adequate. I'm not sure if that's quite enough for your typical reader. The second part of telling a story, putting your world at risk, is missing here. The conflicts, while drawn with exquisite clarity and plenty of fantastic acrobatics and pyrotechnics fall on the mild side.

(by the way, did Dr. Hanover beat the boss Hot Animal Machine? Not telling.)

Next Tuesday:

Space Pussycat, a science fiction tale written by Erica Heflin