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Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

Majestic #2

Majestic #2

Scheduled to arrive in stores: September 1, 2004

Cover date: November 2004

Writer: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Artist: Karl Kerschl

Neal Bailey Reviewed by: Neal Bailey



Far in the past, in Khera, Majestros does battle with the Daemonites.

Successful, he goes home with his comrades to the palace, where he sits down to see a banquet in progress. Entering, he sees a young beautiful girl who catches his eye.

Majestic awakens at present, in the house where he has adopted his secret identity. The young boy, Elijah, awakens him (as Jim McArest) for his days work, noting a suitcase under Majestic's bed.

Ellen, Elijah's mother, questions McArest about a few things, most especially the slip Jim has, calling her Elan instead of Ellen, which he passes off as an accent.

At the school, McArest is the groundskeeper, and he mows the lawn.

Elijah explains to his friends that he thinks McArest is really Superman.

McArest bends a bent lawn blade back right in front of them, fueling suspicion.

Majestic, looking at the blade, remembers doing battle at court on Khera, becoming distracted seeing the young girl, Elan again, and getting injured.

In the diner in Metropolis from last issue, the waitress tells of Majestic's visit. She heads out back to take care of some trash, and is sucked up by a strange Daemonite force.

Ellen asks Jim to take care of Elijah, later that day. He agrees, taking him out to play baseball.

Jim hears the coach berating a kid rather harshly, but lets it go.

He remembers doing dishes as punishment for failing to win the battle, and Elan comes to see him, helping.

In space, the Eradicator has taken form again, and begins descending to Earth, forming himself again. He is overwhelmed by a huge intake of data and seeks out Majestic as the cause.

After the baseball game, Jim hears the coach again, being overly cruel. He goes to talk to the man, telling him to be nicer. Jim turns to leave, and the coach brings a bat down on his back. The bat snaps, Jim burns it with his heat vision, and tells the man he he just resigned as coach.

At the house, Elijah thanks him for taking him to baseball. He then goes upstairs, opens Jim's suitcase, and pulls out the Majestic suit, calling for his mother.

5Story - 5: The story is just getting better. Yeah, there was less action than last issue, but there was something that more than made up for it... characterization. And I like my action and characterization on about a 50/50 basis. Last issue was a perfect blend of action and characterization, this one was more character, but that makes sense, seeing as the final action push, the last two issues, are incoming.

I wish this were an ongoing, I really do, because Abnett and Lanning are really making me like this character. So much so, by God, that I went out and bought the Majestic trade paperback last month, and so help me, strike me dead, I actually ENJOYED something written by Joe Casey. I mean, my God, his Superman run failed in so many ways for me, and there I was, reading Majestic, understanding EXACTLY why Eddie gave him Superman. So I recommend this story, I still do, and I say go out and get the trade, too, because it's really not a unique concept, but it's done so well you really want more.

I like Elijah. I like the secret identity they set up. I'm also glad Eradicator didn't die, mostly because it was a good death, but an untimely one in ways. Still, the storytelling made me believe he DID die, which says something.

The coach subplot, Elan, great stuff. They worked really well for me, especially the love story, having read of Majestic's lost family in the trade. He's a tragic figure in that respect, and Lanning and Abnett know their stuff here.

Great story, overall.

5Art - 5: Still loving Kerschl, and he even managed to fix the nose thing this issue. I didn't notice it, it didn't take me out of the story.

Elan recumbent on the couch, Eradicator falling to Earth, the scene with the coach in the dim locker room, Kerschl has a real eye for tone and definition. He's got a real eye for angle, too, even though there's less Metropolis and more scene here... what I mean is if you turn to the Eradicator page and just look down with him, you feel what he's feeling, and that's impressive. When you look down on the banquet, you feel like you're there.

The art is flashy, without resorting to cheap splash pages, and I really respect that. My admiration for Kerschl grows.

4Cover Art - 4: The color is a little bit off, but that's not Ed's fault. This is a fantastic Ed McGuiness cover, and seeing as he cut a lot of his teeth on the Majestic series (and his work ROCKED, by the way), this is a great homage cover, and it makes extraordinary symbolic sense in context. The words on the top are a little cheesy, yeah, but all in all, a really cool cover showing the transition of character that's attempting to be made in this issue.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2004

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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