Writer: David F. Walker / Artist: Sanford Greene / Marvel Comics
As the “Harlem Burns” story rages on, I think it’s fair to say that the city is on fire. Now that we have Alex’s backstory of how he assembled a crew and we’ve seen the different factions assembling for the big bruhah, there’s nothing left to do then start a war. The storytelling works well with issue, a virtual countdown that goes back farther than this particular storyline, crosses into familiar territory with some important information and then leads up to the confrontation. Even with those road markers, the storytelling is still efficient and brings us up to the present quickly without any fluff.
There are a lot of characters and factions to keep track of, so it’s not always easy to follow who’s fighting alongside who, but becomes less of an issue as the climax of the issue approaches and new lines are drawn. Surprisingly, Power Man and Iron Fist are at the heart of the conflict, but not necessarily much of the storytelling, which fleshes out the villains nicely. We get insight into everyone’s motivations and confidence levels heading into the fight.
I’m usually a big fan of Greene’s art and this isn’t a bad looking issue by any stretch, but it didn’t feel as consistent as past issues. The fight scenes look great and the action is handled well, but some of the characterizations don’t always hit, in particular Black Cat, who appears briefly in the book, but still doesn’t feel on the same level as some other characters.
It is Hell up in Harlem as the war goes bigger than anyone anticipated. With some succinct storytelling and plenty of action, this is another good issue of the Heroes for Hire with the biggest showdown on the horizon.
Reading Power Man and Iron Fist? You can find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.
Are you following Black Nerd Problems on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Google+?
Show Comments