George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards: The Hard Call
Issue: #4
Writer: Daniel Abraham
Artist: Eric Battle
32 pp. Dabel Brothers. $3.99
Reviewed by Paul Stotts
I'm currently reading the excellent upcoming Wild Cards novel "Busted Flush", and one thing I realized is how difficult it must be to translate this type of source material into a comic book. Even though the novel's subject matter is "superheroes" (which has long been the bread and butter of comics), the focus is much different. The novels essentially are character dramas in which the characters just so happen to be superheroes. This type of character exploration if often harder for comics to duplicate due to the restrictions of the media (limited amount of pages, visually-based rather than textually-based). Thus, most of the intriguing nuances one finds in the novels are lost in the translation.
With this in mind, Wild Cards: The Hard Call has done an admirable job in translating such difficult source material. Unfortunately, the fierce intelligence and political and social relevance one finds in the novels is mostly absent, making the comic series not much more than a superhero comic set in the Wild Card universe. Taken for what it is, the comic is a well-crafted and enjoyable mystery. It's just inherently limited.
At the beginning of the fourth issue, Alex enlists Croyd "The Sleeper" Crenson's help to find his missing friend Kira. Meanwhile, the Jokertown clinic is still dealing with a mysterious outbreak of the Trump virus which either kills or cures the Jokers that are exposed to it. Needing help in finding Kira, Alex and Simon agree to trade information with Croyd. They'll tell him everything they know about the outbreak in exchange for Croyd finding out what he can about Kira's disappearance. Croyd quickly uncovers information that points to the clinic's therapist Mike Fallon as being possibly responsible for the Trump virus outbreak.
Writer Daniel Abraham turns in another well-crafted and intelligently plotted issue. The characters of Alex and Croyd, in particular, are becoming more nuanced and stimulating as the story goes along, elevating the series intellectually above most superhero comics. The mystery is straightforward, and there is an overall lack of suspense to the proceedings, but the story is largely effective.
The art in the issue is steady, though nothing really stands out. Artist Eric Battle is highly effective in drawing faces that convey the proper emotions. However, some of the panels seem a little rough and look rushed. Battle creates some nice visuals near the end of the issue when Croyd is shaking down a cabbie for information.
The fourth issue of Wild Cards: The Hard Call is another workmanlike issue, steady and enjoyable but with nothing special to recommend it.
Final Grade: 74 out of 100
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