2 out of 5

Badger went moderately berserk in his mini-series, with writer Mike Baron somewhat returning to the mashup of heavy background issues and ridiculous foreground issues that, for better or worse, made the initial Badger outing such a high bar for the remainder of the series to eyeball.  Baron and an impressive jam of artists didn’t quite fulfill the promise of the mini’s title, but it was still interesting with promises of old Badger characters and concepts in issues to come.

And these were those issues, with new artist Spyder!  …Who leaves after three issues.  That meta humorous here-to-stay-and-now-gone mentality inevitably infiltrates Spyder’s contributions, which are sinfully – because it equates to boredom – uneven.  We do see some of those old characters (Kid Kang!  Wombat!), but it feels inconsequential and almost sloppy.  And Spyder (aka Neil Hansen), as inked by Denis Rodier in his debut issue, looks amateurish, with crowded layouts not helping a disappointing water-monster issue that’s even more cluttered with Baron excess than usual.

The next two issues bounce back a bit in art and story: inked and colored by Gary Kwapisz and Ian Tetrault, respectively, Spyder’s work looks 100% more competent and dynamic, and Baron’s tale of dimension hopping, leather-clad jump rope enthusiasts is very appealingly silly, but it’s almost too cosmic for the book, despite featuring Weterlackus, and never seems to capitalize on its own outlandishness effectively.  Still, not bad as it goes.

Gary Chaloner does issue 58, the best of the bunch cause it features a mohawked Lamont in a cross-Australia race.

The talented but not-a-great-match-for-the-book Pander Brothers apply their outlandish style to a Badger-does-New-York issue.  Baron’s attempt to write for his artists harms the title; some stereotypes in the story are borderline offensive; letterer Paul Fricke can’t possibly fit things around the Panders’ zooty pencils; and Badger’s inadvertent mixup with the NY fashion world is casual Baron commentary, coming across as a complete shrug of an issue.

Here’s hoping the longest incarnation of the character’s various series manages to wind down with some better issues after these.