Tuesday, June 02, 2009

The Mighty #5

As sucky of a blogger as I've evolved into being over the past few months, I'd be even suckier if I didn't mention that The Mighty #5 arrives in stores tomorrow, June 3rd, a day that will forever be remembered in history as MIGHTYDAY!

When last we left off in the world of The Mighty, it looked an awful lot like Alpha-One caused a massive car accident and then, under cover of the ensuing fire and conflagration, kidnapped a young girl and left a dead body in her place. Did we really see what we thought we saw? Or did we interpret Alpha-One's actions the way we've wanted to since first meeting him? After all, people have been saying he's "off" all along. And if he really did do something so horrible, could there be a justifiable reason for it? Who's to say Alpha-One wasn't saving the world from that girl in the car. Maybe she's a Skrull, did anyone ever think of that? Huh???

Only time will tell.

#5 marks the debut of new series artist Chris Samnee, who is ridiculously awesome and talented. If you're a fan of artists from the Toth school, you're going to fall in love.

#5 is also my personal favorite issue of the run to date (we've dialogued through #9 at this point). Which isn't to say that I don't like all the issues, because I've been really satisfied with everything up to this point. Just that #5 is when I really felt like we shifted into high gear. Here comes all the twists and turns, by all means enjoy the ride and let me know what you think.

And remember the name Taylor Rhines, first mentioned in #1.

6 comments:

The Philosophy Teacher said...

Thanks for the comment on #5, and wish there were more. The Mighty is the one book I know I'll buy today and I look forward to it each month. Always something to surprise, something to think about in this title.

Haven't seen #5 yet, but what stands out in my mind from #4 is Alpha One's arm spasm after the chemical fire "rescue." I think I read someone interpret it as an emotional response to what he had just done or failed to do, but that didn't sound right. My guess is that he's physically coming apart, and that has something to do with his bizarre and malevolent behaviour.

Again, good for you for writing a comic that demands this sort of interpretive activity on the part of the reader in a gradually unfolding story. Is that really the subject of The Mighty--interpretation, misinterpretation (between characters, between the reader and the characters, etc.)?

In this regard I can't help mentioning Captain Shaw's death scene in #1: he points to the "A" on his palm, then Cole: "I understand." Then Cole activates the signal! Awesome!

Keith Champagne and Tom Nguyen said...

Thanks, Philosophy Teacher, PHD. What did you think of #5?

If you've read it, you can see that we're moving into an investigative phase, starting to dig beneath the surface a bit. I wonder though, is it possible to investigate the most powerful being in the world without his being aware of it? Food for thought. I will say that, as interpretive as the book can be, all the clues to whatever is really goin on are there in plain sight.

We're flying a bit below the radar at this point of the book's run so feel more than free to spread the word if you're enjoying the title.

And how great is Chris Samnee?

Dan said...

I really enjoyed this issue. My favourite of the series so far as I loved Cole's different encounters with past handlers and Alpha One's plotting seems very insidious.

I know there are comparisons being made between this series and Waid's Irreemable but i'm enjoying The Mighty much more.

Samnees art was great too, capturing the look Snejbjerg brought to the title. Was Snejbjerg still providing layouts for the book? I recall you saying he was but I didn't see his name in the credits beyond a creator's credit with you and Tomasi.

Anyway, great issue Keith!

Keith Champagne and Tom Nguyen said...

Hey Dan, glad you liked the issue. I had my wires crossed a bit as far as Mr. Snejberg providing layouts. It was discussed at one point, I probably didn't read the email where we went in another direction.

ThirdScribe said...

Keith,

Here's what the guys at ComicBloc had to say:

"This series is awesome.

Love the evil superman! This is much better than the new mark waid ongoing at boom."

You got to get out and promote this thing more, bro! It's a great book -- people just need to get out there and start reading it.

Lewis Lovhaug said...

I'm so confuzzled about this series, Keith... I just don't know what to expect from it! Is he evil? Is he good? Does he have radioactive blood?

TELL US, MAN! WHAT IS IT?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?! WHOOOO AAAARREEE YOOOOOU?!?!