Geiger #9 // Review
He’s in shining armor, but he’s no knight. He’s a king. His armor is made of some peetty exotic metal. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem for the man squaring-off against him. He’s got power that could melt right through it. This is some pretty powerful metal, though. He’s going to have a hell of time with him in Geiger #9. Writer Geoff Johns reaches a major turning point for his irradiated hero of the wasteland Artists Paul Pelletier and Gary Frank.deliver the action and drama to the page, amplified as it is by the coloring work of John Kalisz and Brad Andreson.
Tariq Geiger might be a bit overconfident going into the conflict. Having lost his wife, his family and his way of life long ago, the one thing that he had to cling to was a general sense of invulnerability in combat. With the armored king being a bit more of a challenge than he had ever had to deal with in the past, he’s in a bit of a strange position that causes him to lose quite a bit of control over himself. Things are going to get remarkably dark before he kind find the right strategy...and by then it may be too late.
Johns has been taking his time delviering the more intense moments in the series. There’s been a grand sense of patience and pacing about Johns’ writing. It’s been quite a journey...and though the basic premise of the series is a bit of a weak mishmash of different elements, Johns has turned Geiger into something that’s actually quite an accomplishment on quite a few different levels for quite a few different reasons. It’s not exactly mind-numbingly brilliant, but therre’s a solid heart to the center of Geiger that’s quite worth reading.
The art team deliver quite a punch to the page. SO much of the poiwer of the visuals lie in the radiant green that is the visual signature of the title character’s power. Klaisz and Anderson do a sharp job of integrating supernatural radiance with everything else that’s going on on the page. The depth that they’re able to render into the faces of everyone is quite atmospheric as well. There’s a deeply immersive feel to the visuals that make an impressive reality for the story that Johns is weaving into the script of the issue. It’s one of the better issues of the series thus far.
The central idea is appealing enough without being overwhelmingly captivating. It’s a big challenge to get everything going. Johns and company have some difficulty treading between the novel and the familiar, but the ninth issue of the current series manages the right kind of ballance to keep everything moving from beginning to end in a largely satisfying chapter for the ongoing series that continues to find appealing angles on the tradiational “after-the-bomb” sci-fi setting. It’s going to be interesting to see where Johns and company take the series next.
