#IReadsYou Review: GEIGER #3

GEIGER #3
IMAGE COMICS/Mad Ghost

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Gary Frank
COLORS: Brad Anderson
LETTERS: Rob Leigh
EDITOR: Pat McCallum
COVER: Gary Frank with Brad Anderson
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Jeff Lemire; Lee Weeks; Gary Frank
32pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (June 2021)

Rated “T+/Teen Plus”

Geiger created by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank

“Fallout”

Geiger is a new comic book series from writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank.  Published by Image Comics, Geiger is set on a dying Earth in the years after a nuclear war ravaged the planet.  Colorist Brad Anderson and letterer Rob Leigh complete the series' creative team.

Geiger is set 20 years after the nuclear conflict known as the “Unknown War” ravaged the planet, turning Earth into a dying world.  In the state of Nevada, desperate outlaws battle for survival in a world of rapidly disappearing resources and supplies.  In Boulder City, Nevada, there resides the fearsome man known by many names:  Joe Glow, The Meltdown Man, and the Walking Bomb, to name a few.  But before the war, he was simply a man named Tariq Geiger.  So who or what is Geiger, now?

As Geiger #3 (“Fallout”) opens, a flashback reveals Tariq's past life when he began his fight against cancer.  Back in the present, Tariq, now known as “Geiger,” has saved two siblings, Hailee and Henry, from Nightcrawlers.  What will he do with these kids … when all he wants to be is alone?

Meanwhile, another flashback reveals Geiger's first encounter with the young King of Camelot and his Knights.  With this King spoiling for revenge, Geiger may have to take a serious look at whatever these two children's plans are.

THE LOWDOWN:  As first issues go, Geiger #1 was mostly an introduction, kind of like a prologue.  It introduced the title character, Geiger, giving readers a look at who he was in the past and a glance at who he is now.  Geiger #2 went inside Las Vegas.

With Geiger #3, Geoff Johns begins to excavate the heart of the character drama and the passion of old grudges and conflicts.  It feels like the third issue is the first one with some real emotion in the story.

In this third issue, Gary Frank's pencil art captures the emotions, passions, and hotter blood of the relationships of the past that shape the present of Geiger's narrative.  Frank conveys the evil and petulance of the fake boy king in a way that strikes out at the reader, while he reveals Tariq/Geiger in layers that finally opens up the character to readers.  Brad Anderson's colors, however, keeps this “revealing” from dispelling the mystery by painting color and shadow in equal measure.

I'm all in on Geiger now, and I highly recommend it.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank will want to check out Geiger.

A

[This comic book includes a preview of Ordinary Gods #1 by Kyle Higgins and Felipe Watanabe.]

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://twitter.com/geoffjohns
http://www.madghost.com/
https://twitter.com/1moreGaryFrank
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

--------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).