4 out of 5

Covers the volume 1-concluding “City At War” story arc in its entirety.

So volume 3’s hit streak continues: Adam Guzowski on colors, fuller story credits, and mentions of what issues are being reprinted.  There’s not too much work to do on the covers by this point: the original Mirage’s were framed with black borders, so it gives IDW room to finagle with their logo, but kudos for not messing with much.  The printing quality is of standard IDW quality: bright, thick pages, clear text, and Guzowski actually wowed me with his work here and there – the computer blends and some effects are sparingly spread throughout the tons of tones he gets to add to Lawson’s detailed artwork.  …Which is where I sort of get my “why are we doing this?” feelings again, though, as the duotone inking and Lawson’s clean layouts and linework look amazing in B&W, and the Mirage originals were made when the studio was flush, so the printing was just as clear as these reprints.  But the flipside is bringing the work to a new generation, and Guzowski’s efforts certainly don’t detract from anything – and admittedly make for some impressive looking pages, since we get some wonderful splashes and imagery in this arc – I just mean to say that the original versions 100% stand on their own.

Some page numbers were cut off; I didn’t reference if that occurred in the original books, but there were some other alignment issues which seemed equally curious, hence the docked star.  Either production flubs or include a mention at the start that the accidents are purposefully retaining the look of the source material.  I also read a comment on a board that a scene was taken out of one page.  I didn’t confirm that either, but I trust the comment, and that’s complete balls.  Let’s hope that didn’t happen elsewhere, but more support for that minused star.

Where do we go from here, I wonder?  And as Mirage volume 2 was already in color, if that’s where we go, will I be a buyer?  Tune in here, probably not at any predictable time, to find out.

Ploops!