Written by Brian Witten and Eric Stephenson
Drawn by Calvin Irving, Richard Horie, and Shelby Robertson
Published by Image Comics

Well, I’ll just say that this is the end of the opening story arc, and I found it underwhelming. Some things just don’t make sense.

So the kidnapping of Jeff’s daughter, whom we finally learn is named Martha, was set up by Giger so that Jeff could lure Chapel to his city and kill him. So…why did Giger bother setting all those gunmen to attack Chapel and Jeff in the church in the first issue? He could have just let them meet, and Jeff could have quickly pulled out his gun and shot Chapel dead before Chapel even knew anything was up.

Then, when Chapel finally confronts Giger, Giger makes the classic supervillain error of patiently explaining his master plan, which involves unleashing a virus in the atmosphere that will kill the entire human race in 7 days, after which Giger would repopulate the world with his own race of cybernetic men that he would be in control of. Alright, if this plan was in action, why did he need to kill Chapel before this? Wouldn’t he just die with the rest of humanity?

But now he gives Chapel the option to join him and, of course, gives him time to think about it, which Chapel just uses to fight him. Then Martha is released. Now calling herself SLYCE, she is enhanced with cybernetic swords and other bladed weapons, and under Giger’s control, she tries to kill Chapel.

Again, why is Giger even bothering with Chapel? He’s the only reason Chapel is even there, and if he wasn’t there, Giger would’ve won.

But in the end, Martha is freed from Giger’s control, Giger’s virus is destroyed (but Giger escapes), and that’s that. It’s a pretty lame ending, and it’s not helped by the inconsistent art due to the multiple artists on this issue.

Sad to say, this new series is not off to a great start.