CITIZEN V & THE V-BATTALION: THE EVERLASTING #3 REVIEW

[Jim Lemoine]

<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/citv-everlast3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/citv-everlast3t.jpg" align=left alt="Citizen V & The V-Battalion: The Everlasting #3"></a>Reviewer: Jim Lemoine, darkkelf@earthlink.net
Quick Rating: Poor
Story Title: The Devil You Know

Written by: Fabian Nicieza
Pencilled by: Lewis LaRosa
Inked by: UDON Studios
Lettered by: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Oscar Gongora
Colored by: UDON Studios
Assistant Editors: Marc Sumerak
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada

I’ve read Citizen V & The V-Battalion: The Everlasting #3 twice now. After each read, I’ve known what I need to say in my review. But I keep going back to it, because I really, really don’t want to write:

This issue was a huge disappointment.

After all, I love the Thunderbolts. I’ve enjoyed almost every incarnation of Citizen V. I find the relationships and moral quandaries presented by the V-Battalion fascinating. Fabian Nicieza has become one of my favorite writers, and Tom Brevoort generally only invites the best artists to work on his books. Besides, who couldn’t love those gorgeous covers by Mike Deodato?

Bearing that in mind… this book was a huge disappointment. Except for the cover. The cover was great.

To begin with the art, I can only say the same thing here that I’ve said in past reviews: Lewis LaRosa is very, very bad at drawing faces. Pick almost any character in the book, and look at two different panels that show his or her face. Nearly every time, the face will look totally different. Roger Aubrey’s face, in particular, morphs constantly, as does the rest of the V-Battalion. One thing remains mostly constant, though: all of the elderly members of the book’s cast (as well as many of the younger characters) always look ugly. As in past issues, only Citizen V seems to escape from this rule.

I was happy to see the guest appearance by Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, but I was disappointed in the way he was rendered. Not only is this android drawn to look balding and old, but he’s drawn that way after Aubrey specifically mentions that Hammond is artificial and thus doesn’t age. And on a related note: was I the only one who noticed that Flag-Smasher’s facial expression never changed?

In my last few reviews I’ve managed to give kudos to the art teams for their beautiful and complementary splash-pages, their excellent battle-sequences, the great captures of Citizen V in action, and the background technology on display. This issue, though, we only get a quarter of the usual goodness. First, the splash-page looks nothing like the three related ones we saw in the last two issues. Instead, we see an uninspiring pin-up of Flag-Smasher and his Ultimatum forces. Second, there is very little combat in this issue. Third, Citizen V spends most of the book skulking about in a holographic disguise or relaxing in a hot tub with the issue’s villain. But at least we still have the pretty lights and monitors.

The story, while being of much higher quality than the art, is still very sub-par for a writer as talented as Fabian Nicieza. We finally see the plot of the series come together in this issue as we learn the identity of the evil mastermind, but it all seems to happen too suddenly. After an attempt to build up mystery at the end of last issue, Nicieza blandly shows us the villain right from the start. Throughout the book, revelations of this nature are made, but it seems like we just stumble into them, as opposed to discovering them. Too much, too fast, perhaps?

Another problem I had with the issue was Citizen V’s offer to Flag-Smasher. While I understand that this is a perfect example of what has become the overriding theme of the V-Battalion – the means justifying the ends – it’s always been Aubrey doing the dirty work while CV represented the moral authority. Here, suddenly, the situation is reversed. Watkins employs a dirty and unethical solution to the Battalion’s latest problem while Aubrey fumes in the background. Normally I’d say that this seems slightly out of character for John; now, however, after his long speech about the ends not justifying the means last issue, it seems ridiculous! Of course, this doesn’t even begin to address the question of where CV came up with this idea. After all, the first thought that would cross my mind when entering this situation wouldn’t be, “let’s just give the whole country to the bad guy.”

Which is my third major problem with the story this issue. What is Flag-Smasher all about? What is his mission, his goal? It’s to destroy country boundaries and to advance to a central, one-world government. And yet, the one villain in the entire Marvel Universe who is more vehemently opposed to sovereign nations than any other accepts a nation of his own, complete with boundaries. Um… what?

Sure, the offer of your own country must have been tempting to Flag-Smasher’s inner egomaniac. And yes, CV does make excellent points in his speech convincing Smasher to accept. But it’s still impossible to swallow this villain suddenly turning his back on literally everything he’s fought for and believed his entire career. Yes, it’s a great plot device. Yes, it continues the moral exploration of ends and means. But it’s horribly unrealistic writing.

While I wasn’t pleased at all with the story as a whole, it did have some great moments. In particular, the use of the V-Battalion’s Palm Pilot in 1981 was a neat touch. The twin panels and quotes with Marduk and Aubrey on page 5 wonderfully set the atmosphere this issue should have maintained. Citizen V continues to have some of the best one-liners in comics; his comment on most heroes lacking complexity, in particular, was dead-on and fun to read. The Collective Man technology was intriguing, and the ending gives you a great reason to pick up the last issue of this mini-series.

But all of these relatively little things can’t change the fact that Everlasting #3 was a big disappointment. Nicieza is one of my favorite writers, and I generally expect much more from him than this. Worse, I always expect more from his V-Battalion stories. I’m holding out hope for a killer final issue next month, so that the best part of this series won’t be the covers.

Art:
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Story:
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Overall:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg

Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!

[DragynWulf]

Originally posted by Jim Lemoine
I’ve read [b]Citizen V & The V-Battalion: The Everlasting #3 twice now. After each read, I’ve known what I need to say in my review. But I keep going back to it, because I really, really don’t want to write:

This issue was a huge disappointment.

I thought it was nicely done setting up for the climax next issue. So far we have had two issues packed with action, this one was more story than action.


After all, I love the Thunderbolts. I’ve enjoyed almost every incarnation of Citizen V. I find the relationships and moral quandaries presented by the V-Battalion fascinating. Fabian Nicieza has become one of my favorite writers, and Tom Brevoort generally only invites the best artists to work on his books. Besides, who couldn’t love those gorgeous covers by Mike Deodato?

This is Lewis Larosa's first work. Even Mike Deodato Jr.'s first work wasn't as good as it is now. With time and practice, an artist generally improves his work. I have the same feeling Lewis will do the same.

Bearing that in mind… this book was a huge disappointment. Except for the cover. The cover was great.

To begin with the art, I can only say the same thing here that I’ve said in past reviews: Lewis LaRosa is very, very bad at drawing faces. Pick almost any character in the book, and look at two different panels that show his or her face. Nearly every time, the face will look totally different. Roger Aubrey’s face, in particular, morphs constantly, as does the rest of the V-Battalion. One thing remains mostly constant, though: all of the elderly members of the book’s cast (as well as many of the younger characters) always look ugly. As in past issues, only Citizen V seems to escape from this rule.

Bear in mind that you mention only Lewis Larosa here. The artwork is a team effort. The inker could throw the artist's perception off or the colorist could do the same with the inker and so forth. If you take a look at only the art of the penciler (Lewis Larosa), then you can generally see where the inker used his/her own style or if they just inked over the penciler's work. Here is an image of Citizen V done by Lewis Larosa in pencils only......
http://www.comicboards.com/tbolts/moderator/CitizenV2.htm

I was happy to see the guest appearance by Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, but I was disappointed in the way he was rendered. Not only is this android drawn to look balding and old, but he’s drawn that way after Aubrey specifically mentions that Hammond is artificial and thus doesn’t age.

Human Torch I was created to be a perfect artifical human, but by being artifical he does not age. Much like Vision II from the Avengers and Data from Star Trek: Generations, he wants to be human and like Data, has altered his appearances to make him look like he is aging. Roger Aubrey and Human Torch I do not get along well as you can see in this issue. Roger doesn't pass up on the chance to take shots at Hammon when he can as when he talked about the teleporter malfunctioning and yet still wanted to use it. Bring the fact up that Hammon is "aging" and that he is atificial, is another shot at him because he is basically immortal, while Roger is dealing with mortality along with the other V-Battalion members of the WWII era.

In my last few reviews I’ve managed to give kudos to the art teams for their beautiful and complementary splash-pages, their excellent battle-sequences, the great captures of Citizen V in action, and the background technology on display. This issue, though, we only get a quarter of the usual goodness. First, the splash-page looks nothing like the three related ones we saw in the last two issues. Instead, we see an uninspiring pin-up of Flag-Smasher and his Ultimatum forces. Second, there is very little combat in this issue. Third, Citizen V spends most of the book skulking about in a holographic disguise or relaxing in a hot tub with the issue’s villain. But at least we still have the pretty lights and monitors.

As I mentioned above, it is setting up for the next issue. There can't always be shoot'em up dragged out fight scenes in every issue. This one in particular was focused more on the story and setting Hammons up possibly as the new leader of the V-Battalion. An orginization that has been around for a long time and will still be around for a long time. Thus the name "Everlasting" not only holds to the villain, but to the V-Battalion as well. Making an android that is immortal or "everlasting" as leader would work well for a team that will continue to go on through the ages.

[qote]The story, while being of much higher quality than the art, is still very sub-par for a writer as talented as Fabian Nicieza. We finally see the plot of the series come together in this issue as we learn the identity of the evil mastermind, but it all seems to happen too suddenly. After an attempt to build up mystery at the end of last issue, Nicieza blandly shows us the villain right from the start. Throughout the book, revelations of this nature are made, but it seems like we just stumble into them, as opposed to discovering them. Too much, too fast, perhaps?[/QUOTE]

The setting of showing the villain from the start is following the settings of the past issues where we first look into the past and then into the future to see what the events of the past has brought onto the future. Roger and Marduk's meeting (specifically the hand shake) was important to explain the death of Roger in this issue.

Another problem I had with the issue was Citizen V’s offer to Flag-Smasher. While I understand that this is a perfect example of what has become the overriding theme of the V-Battalion – the means justifying the ends – it’s always been Aubrey doing the dirty work while CV represented the moral authority. Here, suddenly, the situation is reversed. Watkins employs a dirty and unethical solution to the Battalion’s latest problem while Aubrey fumes in the background. Normally I’d say that this seems slightly out of character for John; now, however, after his long speech about the ends not justifying the means last issue, it seems ridiculous! Of course, this doesn’t even begin to address the question of where CV came up with this idea. After all, the first thought that would cross my mind when entering this situation wouldn’t be, “let’s just give the whole country to the bad guy.”

Well to be honest, we have only seen the real John Watkins III's personality in only 4 issues (THUNDERBOLTS #60, CITIZEN V AND THE V-BATTALION: THE EVERLASTING #1-3). We have seen others talk mention that he has changed, but unknowingly they were talking to Baron Zemo II and not John Watkins III. So, we really don't know if he enjoys playing with people's mind or not. Sure, he talked the "big talk" with Roger in issue #1, but does he follow his own advise or just do what he wants?

Which is my third major problem with the story this issue. What is Flag-Smasher all about? What is his mission, his goal? It’s to destroy country boundaries and to advance to a central, one-world government. And yet, the one villain in the entire Marvel Universe who is more vehemently opposed to sovereign nations than any other accepts a nation of his own, complete with boundaries. Um… what?

Flag-Smasher has tried over and over to do things by use of force. Everytime he has been fought, he has only been fought. No one has pointed him in another direction other than "Your wrong and will be stopped". Citizen V is telling him that he has good intentions, but going about it the wrong way. Basically saying, "you have tried it your way and it has not worked. Try it this way and you might get things to work the way you want instead of just using force. I will help you do this if you help me". Then the V-Battalion can worry about a smaller problem later after dealing with the big problem now. Citizen V said that they would give him a country, he never said that they wouldn't try and stop him later. But he also told him that if he does not take care of it, they would be back.

Sure, the offer of your own country must have been tempting to Flag-Smasher’s inner egomaniac. And yes, CV does make excellent points in his speech convincing Smasher to accept. But it’s still impossible to swallow this villain suddenly turning his back on literally everything he’s fought for and believed his entire career. Yes, it’s a great plot device. Yes, it continues the moral exploration of ends and means. But it’s horribly unrealistic writing.

Flag-Smasher knows that Citizen V was right about it failing. Why continue something that is going to fail in the first place. It doesn't hurt to try and change your point of view midstream after finding new information or a new way to accomplish your goal.

quote]While I wasn’t pleased at all with the story as a whole, it did have some great moments. In particular, the use of the V-Battalion’s Palm Pilot in 1981 was a neat touch. The twin panels and quotes with Marduk and Aubrey on page 5 wonderfully set the atmosphere this issue should have maintained. Citizen V continues to have some of the best one-liners in comics; his comment on most heroes lacking complexity, in particular, was dead-on and fun to read. The Collective Man technology was intriguing, and the ending gives you a great reason to pick up the last issue of this mini-series.[/QUOTE]

I enjoyed seeing The Human Top I once again. That is what I have enjoyed about both Citizen V series, the use of forgotten Golden Age characters and how they are dealing with society now.

I agree about Citizen V's one liners. They are great! I am here to kick holy buttocks and take names. and One sword! No waiting! .

But all of these relatively little things can’t change the fact that Everlasting #3 was a big disappointment. Nicieza is one of my favorite writers, and I generally expect much more from him than this. Worse, I always expect more from his V-Battalion stories. I’m holding out hope for a killer final issue next month, so that the best part of this series won’t be the covers.

I enjoyed the story myself. It was a good setup to possibly bring in a new member to the title/team as well as explained what exactly the villain was after and how he is going to obtain it.

I am looking forward to the next issue myself and think Fabian, Larosa, and UDON are all doing a good job.

[Jim Lemoine]

Well-stated, Dragynwulf... however, you haven't convinced me.

I could attempt to dispute several of your points (and I think I could do a decent job of it), but I'm kind of tired... and to be honest, I'm very hopeful that my review for CV #4 is more like your review above than mine... I really do enjoy the characters. And I'd rather not badmouth the book anymore, because I think it's got TONS of potential.

So I'm afraid we'll just have to agree to disagree!