2 out of 5

I’m not sure why Christopher Hastings’ humor doesn’t translate well to the Marvel Universe; Deadpool seemed like a great match and the look of and intro to these Longshot books are definitely enough to get ya’ hyped up for silly action a la McNinja, but as was the case with his Fear Itself mini, the jokes always seem to exist just slightly off panel, like the punchline arrived and we’re already done laughing by the time the reader is made aware that something funny might’ve just occurred.  In part this could be due to playing in someone else’s sandbox – Deadpool is apparently a bitch to write, since I haven’t seen someone consistently make him funny yet (although I should reread the Joe Kelly issues), but even though the character allows for 4th wall limberness, you’re still in the Marvel Universe.  He’s not exactly Ambush Bug; you can’t completely make up your own rules.  And though Longshot’s forced innocence (his luck powers won’t work unless they’re wholesomely motivated) is good fodder for Hastings, we’re even more rooted to reality here.

But I’m not convinced that’s fully to blame, since the plot is interesting – a lord of order, the In-Betweener, has his psyche upset by a streak of lucky happenings and thus goes a-huntin’ and a-killin’ them lucksters until arriving at Longshot’s doorstep, at which point the world goes flash and the In-Betweener is split into two distinct personalities of order and chaos – niftily represented by a white mask and black mask, respectively – rewriting aspects of the world along ordery or chaotic lines.  Now ‘Shot and Dr. Strange (who’s aware of the change, though no one else seems to be) must correct the balance.

So that’s cool, I’d be on board.  Jacopo Camagni’s art is a breeze, with that sorta Saturday Morning cartoon realism thing that Runaways had going on, but Camagni’s world is more detailed and paneled more dynamically than that book, and Matt Milla’s colors deliver a wonderful balance of primaries and neons throughout.  VC’s Joe Caramagna handles Hastings wordy dialogue with ease, rendering text-filled panels completely readable and never breaking the flow of the art.

Thus… or maybe not thus, but anyhow, plot, art, check.  So I’m thinking that maybe Hastings just struggles with scripting for other people.  Since the plot seems fully realized – though it suffers from that same timing issue, where major things happen just a tad out of scope… such as issue 1’s ‘cliffhanger’ ending of Longshot seemingly losing his powers but that’s not it at all, he’s just in trouble… and this isn’t played as misdirection, it’s like we weren’t supposed to think that he’d lost his powers at all blaargh – and the book looks good, and I enjoy McNinja, I wonder if Christopher sees these things in his head and scripts it like he’s scripting for himself.  And either the script directions aren’t clear enough or aren’t there or are just mismatched between what he puts down for his artist and what’s in his head.  Or maybe he’s just been unfortunately paired with dudes who don’t get his timing.  Whatever the reason, as much as I feel like there’s a good book hiding between the panels, there’s really not a moment where I was fully interested in the story… and thus I shan’t be continuing to issue 3.  SORRY MAN.