CBR Live! Archive
Dynamo 5 comes out on Wednesday, so check it out!
- by Greg Burgas
- in General
This week Jay Faerber's new series, Dynamo 5, hits the stands. If you haven't been reading Noble Causes, that's just too bad, but here's a chance to check out a brand-new series. Faerber has become a very good comic book writer - he's kind of like old-school Claremont without the repetitive soliloquizing!
Dynamo 5 is the story of five half-brothers and sisters who all happen to be the sons and daughters of a Captain Dynamo, a deceased superhero. He obviously couldn't keep it in his pants as he traveled the world!  After his death, his wife, who you would think would be a lot more upset about his philandering, brings the five half-siblings together because they all have one aspect of their father's power. She forms them into a superteam. Wouldn't you?
The first issue does a nice job establishing the kids' powers and their uneasiness about being around each other. They don't know each other, after all, so they're not entirely comfortable around each other. Faerber has become quite good at the personalities of superpowered individuals, so in very short time, he is able to distinguish between each superhero and give us a nice thumbnail of them. There's a good amount of action, and a nice twist at the end. Shocking revelations at the end of issues has become so standard as to not really work anymore, but this one isn't really that far out, and makes a lot of sense, if you think about it.  Of course, that's how I see it. But I'm a sucker.
Mahmud Asrar's art is very cool, too - perfect for a superhero book. He has a bit of the Dodsons in him, but with a bit less cleavage. I first saw Asrar's art in Small Gods a few years ago and was kind of unimpressed. He's gotten a lot better. Here, he does a fine job with the big fight scene that takes up a lot of the book and gives each hero a nice distinctive look. It's a beautifully drawn and colored book, bursting with enthusiasm for the superhero genre and practically leaping off the page.
I was going to scan some pages, but the first issue is on-line in a .pdf file and for some reason my Adobe software is acting strangely, so I can't access it.  I'm basically a Luddite with a keyboard, after all! So no preview art for you! You can always check out Jay Faerber's web site, Mahmud Asrar's web site, and the Dynamo 5 web site for a few art examples. I'll have a better review of the book up later on in the week, but I just wanted to let you know about the book's existence.  When you make your trip to the comic book store this week, give it a look.  It won't hurt!
- Posted on March 6, 2007 @ 07:41 AM
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9 Comments
DanCJ
March 6, 2007 at 10:02 am
Any description of Jay Faerber that compares him to Chris Claremont would make me run a mile.
Luckily I've already read the first volume of Noble Causes and know it's great!
Matt D
March 6, 2007 at 10:15 am
I'm unfair to Faerber.
I really am. And some day I'll get over it and read Noble Causes as a whole and probably enjoy it.
For now, I blame him for pretty much permanently messing up both the Titans and the New Warriors franchises (which is up there with PAD writing Rick Jones and Snapper Carr at the same time and other multi company feats).
I'm very good at not being petty when it comes to comics(well compared to when I was 14 at least), so let me keep this one.
Greg Burgas
March 6, 2007 at 10:45 am
Come on, Dan - for a lot of years, Claremont was a very entertaining writer. No, his dialogue wasn't any good, but what I meant was that Faerber has the ability to keep long-running storylines going and keep them interesting and not confuse the reader. And that's a good thing!
Let go of the anger, Matt! I read some of Faerber's Generation X and hated it. He's gotten a lot better.
Ian Astheimer
March 6, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Matt, I dunno what all went wrong with New Warriors, but Faerber cannot be blamed for the Titans fiasco. As he explained on his old website, that book was under tight editorial control, and the editor in question was not a fan of the team; he (or she?) wanted to introduce a "new generation" of characters, and so the DEOrphans--or whatever they were called--were foisted upon Faerber. He got so disenfranchised with the series--with the series that he'd always wanted to write--that he wound up quitting, if memory serves. Then, Tom Peyer came in to tell a tale or two and set the stage for Winick's Graduation Day. (Whatever happened to Peyer, by the way?)
I was a big proponent of Noble Causes when it was a series of minis, but I couldn't get into Fran Bueno's art on the ongoing, so I gave up a couple issues in. I understand it's been pretty solid, though. Might have to get the trades.
I'm definitely getting Dynamo 5 in singles, however. The concept is fantastic, one of those "why didn't anyone think of this before...?" ideas, and Asrar's art is stellar. Looking forward to it, for sure.
Michael
March 6, 2007 at 3:59 pm
I saw the Dynamo 5 preview in Invincible. It does look like a neat concept.
DanCJ
March 7, 2007 at 2:37 am
I've read a fair amount of the Claremont stuff that's supposed to be good (Dark Phoenix, From the Ashes, God Loves Man Kills) and really I can't agree with the "keep them interesting" part
Matt D
March 7, 2007 at 7:51 am
I never heard the editorial stuff when it came to the Titans run. It does explain some things though.
And I love Peyer's Hourman, his LSH work, and Dr. Tomorrow, but man was his Titans run bad.
DanCJ
March 7, 2007 at 7:57 am
Yeah - Peyer was good on Hourman, The Atom special and The Authority, but on the other hand he wrote Totems which is one of the worst comics I've ever read.
I think he would have been on form if the proposed Morrison/Millar/Waid/Peyer Superman revamp had ever happened
FunkyGreenJerusalem
March 9, 2007 at 1:32 pm
"For now, I blame him for pretty much permanently messing up both the Titans and the New Warriors franchises "
Can you actually mess up New Warriors?
I mean, did they ever work?