Vibe #7 by Marc Alan Fishman – Snarky Synopsis | @MDWorld

September 5, 2013 Marc Fishman 0 Comments

Written by Sterling Gates, Art by Andres Guinaldo

I let Vibe sit on the shelf for months, and figured it was due time that I check in with 2013’s breakout yawn. Err, star, I mean star! And, ahhhhhhhhh, ‘scuse me. Sorry. It’s just that I finished the last rip-roaring adventure of Mr. Ramon, and I can’t containnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn oops, contain my excitement! The next time someone asks me what’s wrong with “the Big Two” these days will have this issue (and a handful of Red Hood and the Outlaws, and Fantastic Four) hurled at them with maximum force. Riddle me this kiddos… why is schlock like this allowed into the already decreasingly relevant marketplace? Why is shelf space being made for predictable drivel like this, when great books (like Touching Evil, from a few weeks back) struggles to make a mark? Why I beg of you, world, WHY!?

 

But I digress. Let’s tear open this raucous romp through the A.R.G.U.S. facility and see why I’m in such a bitter mood.

So, best I can tell, Vibe has made friends with another relic from the Justice League D-Listers… Gypsy. And with it comes quite a bit of poignant baggage. Seems the dimension she came from (ideally one I suppose where shoes are optional) was lorded over by an evil witch, who in a stroke of good luck, came across the heroic brother of Vibe. For those not familiar with the new52 version of Vibey-Wibey… you see when Darkseid came to Earth to wreck all kinds of havoc, Vibe (then just Cisco) was pushed out of the way of a explosion by his heroic brother. His bro-bro was sucked up into a boom tube, and another one opened right on Cicso himself. I think. Long-story short, as we find out in issue 7, Cisco became Vibe and his hermano became Quake.

 

Quake apparently floated through the cosmic rift into Gypsy-land, where the evil witch Mordeth scooped him up, and converted him into her evil scythe wielding ne’er-do-well. Cut to issue 7, and he’s tearing up Vibe’s home-away-from-home all in an effort to capture Gypsy, and bring her home to her momma—who (SPOILER ALERT) is Mordeth. Cue the lightning! Elsewhere, Agent Gunn (who I assume got his name from the box labeled “Ha! Get it?”) fights off several escaped parademons. And somewhere between all the fracas, Vibe takes out a dragon in between page flips. Where do I even begin complaining?

 

How about at the top? Beyond the convoluted “brother as bad guy” cliché, the entire issue is top-to-bottom trope after trope. Sterling Gates plays light on the prose and prowess, and opts instead for jamming nothing but action (and the obligatory cry before the funeral plot point) into 20 or so pages. With Agent Gunn’s scenes, it’s hard to feel like there’s real peril. The third Vibe brother (Armando? Dante? I forget which is which, and don’t care to look it up again) is all-kinds-of-hurt, and is put on his way to the hospital. Simply put? The whole issue amounts to what I assume is 6 previous issues of build up, shot-put into one loud gateway to the next arc. By books end, Quake stabs Vibe in the chest in order to deux ex machina his way back to his home dimension. Meaning A.R.G.U.S. is left with plenty of mess to clean up. Did I mention out of no where, Vibe fights a dragon… but we never see it?

 

Andres Guinaldo delivers the typical ‘house-style’ DC super-hero book. Quake’s costume—a mish-mash of armor, tattered capes, and pouches—is marginally interesting to look at. And the steady stream of photoshopped effect work around it is modern, overt, and splashy. Far be it from me, the king of the glow effects, to mock here. The book by and large looks good. Nothing stands out, nothing feels rushed. If the comic is targeting teenage boys? They’ll find plenty to like here. Panels are frenetic, and emotions are all set to 11 in every panel. From the crying emo pre-powers Vibe, to the possibly-brain damaged Quake, everyone is amped up, like a good ole’ male soap opera should be.

 

Perhaps I’m wearing my age on my sleeve, but the whole book just tired me out. There’s only so many pages one can take of just yelling and exploding. Especially when it seems like no one is winning, or getting hurt. And given that we’re supposed to believe that Vibe would fight the brother he mourned for, for years? Well, Gates’ prose makes every attempt to broach the subject, but then robs himself of any moment of clarity. Quake will have no moment of emotional despondence! Back to fighting! Back to action! Back to me caring? Nah.

 

Ultimately, Vibe started out as yet-another-Geoff-Johns-baby that’s been sloughed off to the bench to keep warm for the next epic-crossover. The idea of Vibe’s lost brother becoming a super-villain is novel, to a point. But in issue 7 there’s little to hang a hat (let alone a pair of swanky goggles) on. The book is paint-by-numbers fighting, peppered with loose bits of exposition. The art gets the job done, but the job itself is too easy. The book aims low, and nails the target without a problem. If you like stuff blowing up, pretty colors, and the appearance of a dragon? Go snatch this issue up. Otherwise, take a trip to the part of the rack that says “Indie” and take a real trip down the rabbit hole. No mother boxes required.