Lobo #9 Review

Written by: Cullen Bunn and Frank Barbiere
Art by: Szymon Kudranski and Blond
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: August 5, 2015

The Itsy Bitsy Spider...

I don't know about you, but I had a hell of a good time reading the Lobo Annual last week.  In fact, I had so much fun that I was worried that going back to this arc would be a bit of a let down.  Go back to spiderbots and have to wait until September for Lobo to team up with Sinestro?  No thanks. However, I have a job to do and that job involves reading and reviewing Lobo #9.  So, here I go...



This issue starts with Lobo (almost) under the full effect of the Countesses spiderbots .  He still has a sharp tongue, but pretty much is forced to do whatever she wants him to.  What she wants now is for a little sexy time with Lobo.  He may not be a hundred percent on board with it, but he really doesn't protest too much.

We then get a cool "bad ass team walking down the hallway" shot to remind us that there is a Martian and a Thanagarian in the Countesses employ as well as Lobo and it also shows that the other two are well past the talking back stage in this relationship.  Everything up until this point was pretty middle of the road vanilla, except for one thing...name dropping the Vega System.  That's Omega Men territory and even though it doesn't go much further, I am officially begging for a crossover right now!

Back to the issue at hand, after the Countess takes the time to show Lobo her master plan (why would she show him?), they are attacked by our friend from last issue.  It's a cool fight scene only because without full control of his body, Lobo gets the tar kicked out of him.  I've mentioned before that with the healing factor, it's hard to care when Lobo loses a fight, but he reminds the reader that he can't come back from everything and that little line made all the difference for me.

The attacker knows what he's doing, even if Lobo and the reader don't, but when he sets off an EMP that frees Lobo from his spiderbot, it's clear he is on Lobo's side for now at least.  He introduces himself as Wyvern from the Citadel and is about to hire him to get the Omega Men (I want that to happen, please!!!), but Lobo ain't got time for that.  He shrugs him off, takes care of a beaten down Countess and heads home.

In a bit of poor timing, Lobo then receives the job to go take down Sinestro.  Again, if you have already read the Annual, you know that he takes the job with extreme prejudice.  While I will beg again for an Omega Men/ Lobo crossover, the cliffhanger hints at a future arc down the road.

Boy, Lobo is getting better and better.  After eight somewhat disappointing issues, the Annual and this issue have really stepped up this series game.  With Lobo heading back to Sinestro and the Yellow Lanterns, I can only see it getting better in the near future.

The art has been inconsistent in this book from it's beginning, but that's also taken a step in the right direction lately.  This month we get Szymon Kudranski and I liked it.  If you are not a fan of spiders then you may not want to look too closely, but the panel borders were very interesting in the beginning.

Bits and Pieces:

If this upward trend in quality continues, fans of Lobo may have a book they are happy to read.  All things considered, it's knowing that we will be back with Sinestro in September that excites me going forward, but this issue was a good finish to this arc.  I'm glad that i'm finally being rewarded for sticking with this series.

8.0/10