Another one of Mark Millar's young, dumb and full of comeuppance-for-the-bad-guy comics written for the movie option. Action, humor, and plot twists top any need for the story to actually make any sense or the characters to have more than one or two personality traits. And this tale is told fast enough with enough violence to please me and the rest of the popcorn crowd. ( )

This comic has a very fun and exciting premise -- what if an aging supervillain (in name only, he used a ray gun) gets in an unpayable gambling debt, and all the crooks he's mentored over the years rally around him for one last job to earn enough to save his neck? And the execution is ... it's good. It's got a little bit of the Mark Millar "brutal equals exciting" thing I've never cared for, but it's also got a fair bit of his humour and solid story crafting. But despite the splendid premise, it just never quite became something memorable, in my opinion. The logic is more than a bit dubious ("let's go to Spain where there are no super heroes to interfere. Once in Spain, let's target the only possible victim that actually has super powers and a former super hero on staff!"). The "she says no but she doesn't really mean it" romance with the ex-girlfriend (the story's only female character for no apparent reason) you've seen 1000 times before doesn't do anything new. The heist's compulsory twists are fine. It's not so straightforward as to be dull, but nothing earth-shattering happens, nothing that blew my mind. And this had no characters I'll remember a month from now. Excepting, perhaps, the Gladiator, the story's only super hero. It's odd how most regular super hero books leave me with finding the villain the most interesting character, while this story, full of villains, made the sole law-abiding character stand out similarly.

All in all, it was an entertaining read that captivated me enough to read the entire miniseries in a single sitting, but still a let down considering my proclivity for heist stories, the fantastic premise and the book's high reputation. ( )

The artwork on this is incredible. The story was definitely different and enjoyable. ( )

The artwork on this is incredible. The story was definitely different and enjoyable. ( )

The artwork on this is incredible. The story was definitely different and enjoyable. ( )