FX #1 (of 6) (IDW – Osborne / Byrne)
Writer/creator Wayne Osborne and artist John Byrne present FX, an all-new, six-part series introducing a new hero for the ages. Struck down by a mysterious accident, Tom Talbot awakens to find that playing pretend has suddenly become all too real. He now has power limited only by his imagination—but will it be enough to stop the savage Silverback? Comic legend Byrne provides a cover and pencils and inks for the entire series.
With the Easter Holiday behind us, The Pullbox is back in action. One of the first books I read this week was the enigmatic FX. What makes this book so mysterious? Well, it certainly isn’t that it is drawn by the loved or hated, legendary and controversial John Byrne. But created and written by Wayne Osborne… Wayne who? Go ahead Google him… with out a “comics” reference in there, odds are you aren’t going to find him. You know why? This is his first book… pretty wild! Whether or not you’re a fan of him, having John Byrne draw your first published comic is pretty sweet. How does this happen? Well, you do a little digging and what happens comes clean. John Byrne on his site offered to do any commissioned comic book you want, lets say you want to a book with a team-up of Aquaman and Wolverine (he he he), well, you could commission Byrne and he would draw it for you. The entrepreneuristic Wayne Osborne took Mr. Byrne up on his offer, except of his own creation, add a few months and some wheeling and dealing and they got IDW to publish. Wow, sort of one of those fanboy dreams. But how does FX do?
If you are looking for the classic melodramatic super-hero story, this is your book. A good hearted teenage kid gets imagination-based super powers from an unknown extra-terrestrial source and he chooses to battle “let’s conquer the Earth” type baddies. Kingdom Come it was not, but it was fun. The writing is exciting but predictable. A very solid work for a rookie project.
And the art, well…. it’s John Byrne. You can pick his work out from a mile a way. Personally I love it, always have. Maybe it was imprinted onto me when I first started collecting comics and I reading Byrne’s X-men, Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight all in my geek infant-ness. Putting your love or hate of John aside, the work is actually some his best stuff in a decade. Much more solid than the Doom Patrol or that cruddy 10th Circle story line. For me the only really mark against FX as a good pick-up book is the $3.99 price tag… everything else equal, that’s a tough one to swallow. Lower that price, Mr. Osborne and you’ll have a hit book.
Grade: B
