Review: Lobo Vol. 1- Targets

Quick Summary

Pros: The action is fun and Lobo’s approach to each individual battle is creative. Lobo’s past is interesting and makes the finale more meaningful.

Cons: Most of the book feels like a generic assassin story. Exposition near the end feels a little rushed. The tone of the artwork doesn’t do well in matching the tone of the story.

Overall: Lobo’s first solo outing in the New 52 delivers on brutal action but falters when it comes to the story. Fight sequences take precedence over the story, which ends up being rather generic. Pieces of Lobo’s past make the ending more enjoyable but this is really only a small portion of the entire book. This is a volume that will please fans of deadly battles and creative fighting, but may leave others wanting.

Story

Lobo Vol. 1: Targets, by Cullen Bunn, has a fair share of positives and negatives that make for a rather mixed experience. The main draw to the volume is the over-the-top action that Lobo exhibits throughout. However, outside of the cool fight sequences, the story is pretty generic and does not have much that makes it worth recommending over numerous other comic books about deadly assassins. Lobo’s past is interesting to learn about but only becomes a significant feature of the book in the final third of the story. There is potential in this series but this initial entry ends up feeling a bit lackluster.

(spoilers start here)

The volume begins with a premise that lends itself well to over-the-top action and brutal fight sequences. Lobo is tasked with killing eight assassins, each of whom is trying to destroy the entire planet Earth. For the most part, the majority of the volume follows Lobo as he kills each of these threats. Bunn does a solid job in making each kill unique and keeping the action fresh the entire time.

However, outside of the action, the rest of Lobo’s modern day actions are rather generic. A loner assassin haunted by his actions is a concept that has been overdone in multiple mediums, including comic books. In addition, the supporting characters provide little to the story and end up being more of a distraction than anything else.

Luckily, the mystery of Lobo’s past in interesting enough to keep the story compelling. Bunn slips in short flashbacks throughout Lobo’s modern day adventures. Each tease gets the reader more involved in the story and gives something more to look forward to besides seeing who Lobo will kill next. In addition, these flashbacks help establish a storyline that makes the end of the volume more significant and meaningful.

This is done by injecting a piece of Lobo’s interesting past into his more generic present. The person responsible for the death of Lobo’s home planet ends up being the final target he needs to kill. Seeing him battle his past and present at once is great and gives him some additional depth as a hero. Though some of exposition in this portion of the story feels rushed, it makes for an overall satisfying ending that got me moderately excited to read more about this character.

(spoilers end here)

Art

For the most part, the artwork throughout Targets looks good. The artistic team, primarily consisting of Reilly Brown, Nelson DeCastro, Pete Pantazis, and Alisson Borges, does a solid job in presenting characters and locations that look good and have plenty of detail. In addition, the art is structured well in a way that makes the reading experience easier.

The problem is that the majority of this volume’s artwork does not complement the mood of the story. Targets is a violent book about assassins killing each other, so one would expect the artwork to match this rather serious tone. Instead, stylized characters and cartoonish facial expressions give a lighthearted and almost jovial feeling. This disconnect between moods hurts the volume and makes it harder to enjoy as a whole.

Continuity

Lobo Vol. 1: Targets starts the Lobo series. This version of Lobo made appearances in previous comic books but his history is fully explained here.

The story started here continues in Lobo Vol. 2: Beware His Might.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• Lobo discovered the location of his imposter back in Justice League United Vol. 1: Justice League Canada (Review).
• Lobo mentions having an earlier encounter with Superman. This happened in Superman/Batman #17, which is collected in Superman/Batman Vol. 4: Siege (Review).