Customer Reviews

Dynamo 5 Volume 3: Fresh Blood

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The strength of this series is the character interactions among the half-siblings on the team, so I was wary upon reading a collection of stories about Scrap replacing her half-sister and half-brothers with four other local super-types. Faerber didn't let me down, though, as he keeps the original cast members around in subplots while the new guys take over the main stories. There are some plot twists and identity revelations that surprised me, and I liked the standalone issue where the secretive maternal figure, Maddie, is forced to examine her relationship with her cheating dead husband (even though I thought the resolution to that issue was cheesy). The "fresh blood" in this collection is handled well, but they're not as compelling as the series regulars, so this collection is not quite as good as the ones before, but it's still a worthwhile read for people who enjoyed the first two volumes.

This third "Dynamo 5" trade paperback collects issues #14-19 of the enjoyable Jay Faerber/Mahmud A. Asrar comic book published by Image Comics. For those unfamiliar with the series, it features a team of five teenage superheroes that were each illegitimately sired by the same father, Captain Dynamo (a mix of Superman and Casanova). After C.D.'s death, his wife Maddie located five of his offspring and radioactively unlocked the superpowers of each, forming the Dynamo 5 team to protect Tower City. Faerber spun this series off of his popular, recently concluded "Noble Causes" title, and some of those characters appear here as well.
With Maddie in a coma and their base dilapidated, the original Dynamo 5 team dissolves and its members return to their respective personal lives. Without its protectors, Tower City descends into crime-filled chaos, with only the mysterious new hero Vigil publicly fighting villains. Feeling guiltily responsible for Tower City's descent, Scrap forms a new five-superhero team to defend the city. Faerber uses telepath Scatterbrain's visit inside Maddie's brain to reveal more backstory of Maddie and C.D.'s relationship. Original artist Asrar penciled five of the issues, with Marcio Akara penciling the bulk of #18.
Fans of the first two books will most likely enjoy this third volume. This series is also strongly recommended for fans of titles like Marvel's "Ultimate Spider-Man" or "Young Avengers". This is worthy of your comics dollar: support creator-owned comics!