2 out of 5

I haven’t read much of Mister X, but I thought I sorta’ got the character through some shorts I’ve read (from various eras) plus a recent mini Motter did.  Enough to see how it slots in with Electropolis and Terminal City – both of which I have read – and enough to see how it differs as well.  For where those two series mix noir with, to a greater or lesser degree, vaudevillian style comedy, Mister X seemed to exist more in the surreal, twisting that noir element through a sleepless drugged out narrative which would twist through mystery and intrigue, never quite understood.  Some social comedy thrown in but nothing as overtly goin’ for jabs and giggles as the other two series.  And Motter’s pencils on X seemed very Gothic, and I can’t be alone in that judgment, since it would seem to be part of the design of the world in which it takes place.

This is to summarize that Hard Candy feels off to me.  It’s a fun story to look at and read, if a little oddly paced, with a two-part who/whydunnit that’s slapdash wrapped up in the last part of this one-shot, and X seems more at a loss and less dour than I’ve seen him before, more of a ‘character’ whereas previous incarnations felt like a presence.  The art style is rounded, the dialogue is littered with the playfulness of Terminal City… and the other pieces I’ve read from this world, I don’t feel like it enhanced the overall story at all.  Like there’s no real reason for this to take place in the X world, unless it will come up in the next mini that Motter’s due to deliver.

So perhaps I’m off in my expectations for Mister X.  Dunno.  I plan to read more and then revisit what I have.  As a one-shot, unconnected from anything else, this is a quick read from a guy who knows how to pack a story into one comic, even if it’s uneven in pacing.  But as a Mister X book, it just don’t feel right.