Broken Frontier

Life in the gutters can be miserable. Accused of murder, living in the bottom of a tequila bottle, and cheated on by an ex-girlfriend? Sam only knows that he keeps having mysterious pieces of metal keep showing up on his person. Is he the one to figure out who the killer is? Is he the killer?

Mysterious Ways looks to offer a decent murder mystery over the course of a miniseries. Much like Sam, the readers are left in the dark for much of the book, and much like the rest of the cast, you don't find Sam to be likable. Still, he'll likely turn into an antihero by the end of the book, but at the moment, he's just downing tequila and getting shot.

Kirkham's art continues to prove why he's one of the rising stars in the industry in recent years, and in a world without Michael Turner, he fills a hyper-detailed void. Additionally, he thankfully avoids the stereotype builds that many artists would default to; our "hero" Sam is built like a brick house with a less of a six-pack and more of a keg, and other characters fill out various body types. Lil, the only real female character in the book, does go for the "perfect woman" build, but since she's "the hot waitress," it works, and one should never complain about Kirkham drawing women.

Jason Rubin, primarily a video game industry alumnus, gets to stretch his wings in the comic book field he keeps tapping into. While we don't get anything to write home about, the book is well-written, as if it was the opening act of an action flick or murder mystery. It's no All-Star Superman, but it's also no filler arc. Thankfully, but awkwardly, Rubin manages to avoid the first issue doldrums of introducing everybody in an awkward way and explaining the situation. There are a few lines of painful exposition, but much of the backstory of the characters is left up to the imagination.

Visually, Mysterious Ways is amazing, thanks to the work of Kirkham, which just lights more of a fire over his future run on Green Lantern: The New Guardians. He thrives with the grim and gritty, and something like Mysterious Ways is really a place for him to shine. Rubin's writing is fine, but this book should be on your pull list for Kirkham's art primarily. There may be a great story here, but with only one issue in the can, it's a little hidden.