Resurrectionists #1
Publisher: Dark Horse
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Maurizio Rosenzweig & Moreno Dinisio
Cover: Juan Doe
The quote at the beginning from James Baldwin perfectly sets up this series you’re about to get into should you take a chance on Resurrectionists. There’s a certain group of people who can become who they were in past lives, and there’s a glimpse of this ability as the story opens. A woman by the name of Lena is crushing a security team by switching between various warriors from the past. After she’s done it’s revealed that she’s looking for Jericho Way, who is referred to as “The Maker” and has no idea about his untapped ability. For now, he’s just a thief trying to make ends meet on a very big heist.
Fred Van Lente immediately draws interest into Resurrectionists with a strong premise and solid execution of the story. Jericho Way is an interesting enough protagonist to garner investment, and he’s actually a guy to root for, especially after the extensive flashback of his past life. Even his former cellmate, Mac, isn’t just relegated to sidekick status, as he’s just as much an integral part of moving the story as Jericho. They have some very good banter as they’re planning the heist, and everything just fits together to make the pairing believable. It isn’t until the sequences in the past that certain things start to chip away at the story’s efficiency. As well as the story is written, much of the dialogue seemed very out of place and pretty modern for a sequence that was taking place in ancient Egypt. Not sure if words like “jerk” and “stymie” were part of the every day Egyptian language, but it was pretty jarring in an otherwise fantastic sequence that offered some surprises.
The visuals were pretty darn excellent from Maurizio Rosenzweig with colors by Moreno Dinisio. The opening fight was elegant and brutal, displaying a nice intro to one way the abilities can be used by the Resurrectionists. From then on things continue to look just as good as their visuals hit every beat necessary to move this story along. Though as good as the art is, there was an inconsistency that stood out at times when Mac was in the panel. When we first see him there’s nothing too special about his physical appearance. However, as the story progresses we see that he’s got a scar above his right eye. This scar does a vanishing act a few times, but something that distinguishable on a character needs to be in every panel where it can be seen. This might seem like I’m picking on Rosenzweig, but it’s like an artist drawing the eye patch on the wrong eye of Nick Fury. Other than this mishap, the art style throughout the book is satisfying.
Resurrectionists is more than deserving of your time as Van Lente weaves this tale through past and present, while Rosenzweig and Dinisio keep it looking good. This will be an ongoing title that seems fitting as we journey further into this world and see what this creative team has in store for us along the way.
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
