The Immortal Men #4 Review

Sibling Rivalry Gone Wrong

Writer: James Tynion IV

Art Team: Tyler Kirkham, Arif Prianto, Carlos M. Mangual

DC Comics

Release Date: June 11th, 2018

Cover Price: $2.99

One of the biggest reasons I was attracted to the New Age of DC Heroes lineup of books at the start was that they were billed as titles with DC's best artistic talent on them. However, at various points in all these titles lifespans, they have removed the initial 'creator' that attracted many readers to the books in favor of lesser, in many cases, names that don't have quite the same name appeal.  Immortal Men has been the biggest culprits of this offense so far with Jim Lee doing only part of issue #1 and that's all.  However, change is in the air as Tyler Kirkham steps up to the plate for this issue, one of my absolute favorite artists in all of comics. So let's see if Mr. Kirkham can breath a little life into this book going forward because I've been very cold on it so far.   

The issue begins as we revisit the past of the Immortal Man and his sister the Infinite Woman. We learn where/when they came from, and get our first brief glimpse of the start of their conflict, which is they just simply disagreed on how to 'save the world' after coming into their 'powers'.  The narration swings back around to the present day as the Immortal Man and his crew are losing ground to the Infinite Woman and her Bloodless 'alien-esque' creatures.  

Before we verbally progress our story any further from last issues cliffhanger though, we're stopped cold in our tracks to recap another origin story, Tynion thinks we haven't gotten enough of yet, with Timber. This is what makes this title so infuriating. We have gone back and forth for FOUR issues now just dripping out bits and pieces of different characters origins, sometimes retelling them (as is the case here), and our story is still dealing with its first conflict, which at this point seems to have no end in sight.  The story just refuses to move forward, still gets bogged down with over explanations of things that should have all occurred in the first or second issue, and makes it hard to tell if the art on the page in this issue is for a flashback at points of this story. A lot of complaints I know but despite that confusion, the book looks great under Kirkham's hand. I just think this section with Timber was a weird storytelling decision (it seems on Tynion's behalf) that took me a page to figure out what was happening.  

It turns out the Immortals escaped their now invaded base, thanks to Timber 'sizing up', leading to an encounter outside again with the Immortal Man vs Infinite Woman face to face. Immortal Man displays his badassery in impressive fashion using his skill to take down his sister (but not for good) and pretty much an entire Bloodless army by himself. Caden in the meantime, remember him the all-important chosen one of this title, touches Ghost Fist and gets the ability to kung-fu the crap out of every Bloodless around, finally becoming useful in this story, albeit out of nowhere for 'reasons', because this concept was even new to him.  The issue ends when it decided the fight needs to end with a pretty shocking death that will leave you wondering what may happen next if you're still invested in the happenings of this title ... but that's for you to decide.  

Overall, I enjoyed this issue of Immortal Men slightly more than some others that came before it, but  the story arc as a whole just isn't what I'd call a great or entertaining read, at this moment in time. We still have a 'chosen one' character in Caden (this fight is all about) that is largely unlikable, a team that's still being revealed and developed in forced ways each issue, which all breaks up the story into a hodgepodge the writer or artist isn't sure what to do with next at points it seems.  This book is very much stuck in a weird space where I don't know much about the characters but I'd rather move on with what I have so far then keep finding out.  

The art to me is a step up from what we've been getting lately in this series, and while Kirkham does his best with some characters I don't have a huge attachment to, it just doesn't make the book a must buy like Tyler Kirkham art usually is for me. It does make the book look better as a whole though while providing that big name POP these series were advertised to be going for.  

Bits and Pieces 

Tyler Kirkham provides a boost to the art duties, lending a big name to the New Heroes titles that had seemingly all but vanished, but doesn't give the book enough of a boost to make it worth a look see unless you're already invested in what's going on here.  The story is still mixing in origin tales after four issues, while largely ignoring the 'chosen' character of the title, in favor some wow moments with displays of power. While we get a decent ending the Immortal Men just don't seem long for this world. 

5.2/10