Writer: Jay Faerber
Artist: Mahmud A. Asrar
Publisher: Image
Early on in Dynamo 5 one of the super-powered team says to a villain, after a particularly corny piece of dialogue, “I’ve got a degree from NYU film school, and if I ever had one of my characters talk like that, I would have been laughed off campus.” After reading the entire comic, it’s hard to say if this is a bit of self-deprecating humor or if the wordsmith of the comic is oblivious to just how bad the remainder of the dialogue is. Considering that Dynamo 5 seems to want to be a more human relations story than just a super-hero story, either option doesn’t bode well.
The idea for Dynamo 5 is interesting enough. Captain Dynamo, protector of Tower City, dies in rather questionable circumstances that cause his widow, Maddie Warner, to look into his activities behind the cape. By this, she learns that Dynamo was a serial adulterer and fathered five children. In an attempt to prevent the super-villains of Tower City from running amok in the aftermath of the Captain’s death, she unites these children and exposes them to radiation in order to activate their super-powers. As you might guess from the rather casual way Maddie doses the five with possibly dangerous radiation, she doesn’t have any sort of maternal feelings for this bunch. None of them really have any soft feelings for each other, but they need to work together in order to save Tower City.
While the idea is solid, the book doesn’t take off with it. It is hobbled by bad dialogue, which proves to be a big downfall as the first issue is extremely caption heavy. Much of the exposition is delivered by a character who is being interrogated while under the influence of some sort of truth serum. However, the character does not deliver his lines in any way that would indicate he is drugged or even scared. It is very matter of fact and, well, uninteresting.
The other problem is that the reason (or lack of) for the team to work together just isn’t delivered in such a way that it gives sufficient cause for the reader to suspend disbelief. The members of Dynamo 5 are from different backgrounds and geographical locations, which could make for an interesting comic in watching them put aside their differences to work together. They do so in order to save Tower City. However, none of them are from Tower City or have much of a reason to care about it. Certainly, a few members of the team might take up the mantle of their father. However, judging by the characterization of a few team members, at least two of them would most likely use their new found powers for selfish gain.
The ending, while a surprise, doesn’t deliver astonishment so much as head shaking. While I won’t give it away, I do have to ask a question: Why would you shoot someone, throw away the perfectly good gun in your hand, only to draw out a second, identical weapon in order to shoot a second person?
Dynamo5 is an interesting concept that is flawed in its creative execution. In the end, this first issue is a flat book that doesn’t deliver much in the way of entertainment.
If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work at http://madbastard.hypersites.com.
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