2 out of 5

This was dumb, with boring coloring and pretty deplorable art at times.  This is sort of what I was worried the book would devolve into.  I am hoping it bounces back.

So after the undeniably enjoyable setup storylines for SG, there was the question: where do we go from here?  While North has been flexing his scripting muscles on various books, I haven’t really seen proof yet of his ability to write an actual satisfactory narrative that isn’t resolved by joke (i.e. Galactus).  When he does try to extend into something resembling a more legitimate story arc, we mind up with a mish-mash of events, a la Midas Flesh, and now, these issues.  I’m going to choose to blame this particular hiccup on Marvel’s hijacking continuity for rebooting the book with a #1, and thus give it some more issues before I pass final judgment.

Herein does an evil squirrel come to town, requiring our titular heroine to team up with her troupe of animal-themed hero friends (which is typical North humor – Koi Boi – and funny, but has sacrificed a lot of the potential of the “SG in college” quirky setup for some cheap gags) to put it down… in the most disappointing way ever.  Because it’s not wittily anti-climactic this time, like with Kraven, but an actual attempt at having a battle and resolution and it just reads like a muddle of too much ba-da-bump Northy dialogue and ideas.  And also like he stumbled across a factoid that he just turned into a plot.

Not helping: I know Erica Henderson can draw – see her covers, or the Asgard shot from issue 8, where it’s clear she’s taking her time – but the majority of these issues are atrocious.  They lack detail, they lack a sense of space, and they lack the comic timing she previously nailed.  Deadlines?  I don’t know.  And without any backgrounds most of the time, colorist Rico Renzi just keeps tossing boring solids on everything.  I use the word muddle again – it’s how the pages looked.  They were not appealing to read, with rushed looking art, flat colors and walls of text.

Yes, Ryan can still get me with his gags now and then.  I laughed out loud at some dialogue.  And the super-powered squirrel bit was a great start.  But it all starts to run thin pretty quickly, getting downright sloppy – plotting, art, the whole shebang – by the conclusion.