Written by Carey Malloy
Drawn by Scott Godlewski
With nothing to lose, there is only one desperate chance left for the elite Cryptanalysis Unit of the FBI — Special Agent Donald Garner must face his own dark past to save the future of those closest to him! Will Garner’s deepest secrets destroy them all? Or will Stanley finish the job for them?
Check behind the cut for my thoughts on the issue!
Codebreakers has been a fun enough little mini series in which I think I probably ultimately expected more. We’ve had action, we’ve had spies, and we’ve had unbreakable codes. Until now, a lot of the “mysteries” were open ended, with a lot waiting for a reveal. This issue is just that – the plot comes full circle, we understand what the stakes are, and we understand why we’re seeing all of this.
The only problem is, I didn’t really effected either way. While the revelation was interesting within the context of the story, I’ve never found myself particularly moved for the characters, and certainly not shocked in any way. My reading of the comic pretty much sees me just rolling with the punches here, taking events as they happen and accepting them. The ending of this issue is a fairly big cliff hanger as well, considering, but after reading I didn’t find myself concerned for the characters well being. It was just another element of the show.
That’s not to say the comic is necessarily bad. Far from it. It features very good writing and art as well from it’s team of Malloy and Godlewski. They have created a concise little universe that ties together really well, and the pay off is understandable and enjoyable enough. The problem is, I don’t feel like in the three issues we’ve gotten so far that I’ve had any time to really relate or attach to any of the characters. Their story never really grabbed on to me and pulled me in, and the stakes that were raised for each character never felt very high. I think that, if this story was fleshed out over a longer set of issues, and the reveal that Stan was alive wasn’t revealed until later (perhaps the end of the initial arc), it might have been more shocking. Then the other reveals that come with this issue would have been more effective after an arc or two, once we’ve gotten to know the characters more. Right now, they pretty much don’t really matter.
Ultimately, while the comic was fun to read, I was not really moved either way for it. I think that if you’ve been reading the mini, you should definitely stay tuned for the ending. Otherwise, you could wait for the trade.
Final Verdict: 6.3 – Browse
