Two issues down, “Brain Boy” is giving Dark Horse Comics its own take on the super human – a genre that the company isn’t known for dabbling in. There’s plenty of fun to be had, but it remains to be seen if “Brain Boy” adds anything to said genre that wasn’t there before or if it has a strong enough identity to stand out from the crowd.
Written by Fred Van Lente
Illustrated by R.B. Silva
Inked by Rob Lean
Colors by EgoAmbushed while protecting an important foreign dignitary, Matt Price, a.k.a. Brain Boy, finds himself wrapped up in political intrigue when an assassination plot that could derail a key United Nations conference sets Brain Boy on a collision course with a man whose mental powers rival his own! Get ready for a psychic smackdown over the streets of New York City!
“Brain Boy” #2 opens with a visually arresting continuation of issue #1’s cliffhanger. Fred Van Lente pits the psychic powers of Brain Boy against an opponent much like himself. This plays as an appropriate choice for a ground-up introduction of the Brain Boy character, but also an overly safe approach to superhero storytelling, without much spin on it. Our hero is a telepath working for the Secret Service to protect international dignitaries – it’s nothing fancier than that. We’ve been reading about telepaths since before Charles Xavier was hanging out listening to beat poetry in the ’60s, man. Putting Brain Boy (don’t call him Brain Boy) into a stuffy government contractual situation offers a little intrigue, I suppose, but aside from the fact that he’s a self-depricating guy, the story itself is pretty standard. Pitting our hero against telepaths and dictators, “Brain Boy” #2 sets up a bunch of little mysteries surrounding these cases – which are enough to pique interest, but maybe not enough to make the exposition along the way a little bit of a drag. Regardless, the fact that his newfound enemy is a remarkably despicable, yet influential guy works really well in execution that I won’t dare spoil it.
Fred Van Lente applies his typical wit to the book – even making 4th wall breaking comments regarding the narration of the comic book. This really loosens the book up when it’s not get caught up in too much plot. Okay, so in the year 2013 breaking the 4th wall isn’t exactly groundbreaking either, but it’s totally appreciated. It’s more interesting than playing things straightforward. It’s these little moments that give “Brain Boy” the charm that helps it push against the walls of its own conventional concept. R.B. Silva provides even more of these moments through his art. All of that exposition that I mentioned takes place in the middle of the issue, where Brain Boy is transitioning from the battle he thought he was fighting, to a newer, weirder one entirely. It does drag down the issue, but luckily it is surrounded by those strong, witty bookends.
That middle portion doesn’t allow R.B. Silva to let loose like the bookends do either. When Van Lente and Silva are on, they produce a wonderful mix of visual storytelling. In the case of “Brain Boy”, less dialogue makes for a better comic book, because the concept itself isn’t compelling enough to carry the book when the weirdness isn’t being dialed up. I mentioned that the opening sequence is arresting – and it is. Silva uses a variety of perspectives to depict Brain Boy’s telepathy in a variety of ways – never more effectively than when he (somehow extremely tastefully) depicts visions of his enemy’s disgusting abuses of power. Silva is also a terrific choice to convey the comedy of Van Lente’s script. Even on the extremely uneven “Superboy”, Silva was always a highlight, giving his characters a charm and a winking eye toward the lighter aspects of every script. Much of the charm of “Brain Boy” is in the playful expressiveness and body language of our hero, as he slips through one near miss after another.
“Brain Boy” #2 is a fine comic book, but it’s difficult to point to things that it does exceptionally well. I’ll tell you who this is a great book for: readers who are interested in superheroes, but who don’t necessarily want to read Marvel or DC Comics. Readers who want to support the companies that come after the “Big 2” can feel comfortable checking this out. But someone who reads a lot of DC and Marvel may not find much that makes “Brain Boy” novel, aside from its lack of X-Men. Fred Van Lente, R.B. Silva, and Dark Horse Comics have made a book that deserves to succeed, but even though I hope it finds a nice-sized audience, there are just so many great comics coming out these days (a startling number of them are even from Marvel, right now). “Brain Boy” #2 is definitely worth at least a browse – it’s a witty, slick take on the telepath character – but it’s not really doing anything to give it the “Dark Horse” spin on the genre that you would expect.
Final Verdict: 6.9 – A solid straddling of the buy/browse line.
