Garbage Man: Aaron Lopresti
Teela: Kevin Maguire
Weird Worlds was a 6 issue miniseries that introduced two new characters and pushing another, more famous character along with it. Normally I'd do the character introductions here, but the stories kinda do that on their own. This is also the first miniseries I've reviewed so the description of events will seem much more sparse. Each issue features a 9 page part of the story of each character.
Lobo: What can I really say about Lobo that hasn't been said? He is definitely the 80's personified into alien form. Costumes from the Lost Boys movie, face right out of The Crow, Wolverine's superpowers, uber violent bounty hunter, and vocabulary right out of The Warriors. Famous for being the Last Czarnian (he killed all the rest), and one of the few characters able to take Superman on, head to head, Lobo has either been a fan favorite or fan forbidden for nearly 25 years. In Lobo's story, he collects the bounty on a shape changing purple alien who is wanted by his government. Like many bounty hunting stories, the bounty is not what it seems and Lobo sets to make it right. This would seem like a pretty simple story, and I think that's the flaw here. Over the course of 6 months we get, by month: 1- Lobo gets to the bounty and finds out he can shape-change, 2- Lobo finally beats the guy and captures him, 3- on the way back they run into another bounty hunter, 4-we get the scoop on what is actually happening and why the guy is being hunted, 5- the two break into the fortress that set the bounty and then get captured, and 6- they escape, Lobo gets his money, and kill they evil monarch and the bounty takes his rightful place as the new monarch. No surprises, no real twists... its kinda boring... unless you love Lobo. Here, the character is given a great arc and is written extremely well. Grade: B-Garbage Man: Garbage Man gets a well written origin story... but the origin is pretty simplistic and overdone. A scientist is involved in an accident/experiment and becomes a monster/gets powers. Despite being a huge cliche, Garbage Man is a sympathetic character who readers will enjoy, if you can bare looking at him. Since he is made of nothing but waste, he is indestructible and malleable, but ultimately unable to form other shapes like Clayface. His month-to-month story is less connected than Lobo's, but it still works well. 1- He wakes up and realizes he is made of trash and recalls parts of the experiment that made him what he is, 2- He attacks the science center that mutated him, sees other experiments gone wrong and finds the scientist responsible dead and the building explodes, 3- Garbage Man finds out he can't die... and is promptly attacked by a werewolf, 4- He kills the werewolf, and feels bad for taking a life, 5- He befriends a hobo and Batman finds traces of his garbage from the building explosion, 6- While trying to save a boy from what he believes to be another monster, he finds another "experiment monster" has befriended the boy and is protecting him from an abusive stepfather. This new beast kills the stepfather and the monsters leave together. Interesting story, no doubt, and it is easily the best of the three stories. Grade: A.
Teela: Teela is not given any origin; just identified as a superpowered alien teenager who fights monsters. Her stories are difficult to get into, and tend to fall flat fairly quickly. Each story is as follows: 1- She lands on a planet after floating through space, 2- She befriends the populace and then a monster shows up, 3,4, and 5- Previous monster defeated and a new one attacks, and 6- Previous monster defeated, and then people want her to leave since she attracts monsters. The story doesn't really go anywhere and is repetitive. Grade: C-
High Points: The art in all three is fantastic, from the gritty Lobo, to the dark and dank Garbage Man, and the bright colors inventive creatures from Teela.
Low Points: I pretty much listed these out already in the individual stories, but I couldn't imagine paying 3 bucks an issue- a dollar per monthly story- for the one really good story.
Verdict: B- It was an interesting experiment, leading to Lobo getting a solo series in September probably, while the other two are sharing another book in the same month. Honestly, they will eventually combine each character's story into one single comic. I'd pick up the Garbage Man one only. And if you want to burn a few extra dollars, grab the Lobo story. Dancing time?
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