Mercy sakes, you guys have been waiting for five months to hear what I thought of DC’s new Grifter series. Sorry about that.
I got issues 1-2 at Mid-Ohio Con, so I was able to read them both in one sitting. It felt like reading one issue, which is not necessarily a good thing.
The basic story is pretty familiar: Cole Cash is a former special forces operator-turned small-time grifter, who gets abducted by aliens called Daemonites. The abduction goes wrong, and he somehow gains the ability to hear the aliens’ thoughts. They’re chasing him, and apparently inhabiting the bodies of humans, so Grifter does his whole “They Live” bit. For some reason, he puts on a dew-rag mask.
The book is at its best when Grifter is conning someone, or relying on his wits to escape the aliens. In one sequence, he fights off a possessed cop with a frying pan and baking soda, then cons a bunch of cops who show up. In another, he hijacks a plane with an airline booze bottle. That’s a little of the old Grifter that we all know and love.
The biggest problem is the whole series is a little low-key (some might say “realistic”). Like, the payoffs aren’t big enough, or we’re not getting answers fast enough. After five issues, the Daemonites haven’t said anything about their plan other than they want to go home, and it’s not clear that they’re doing any great harm on Earth.
I think I’m just missing the original Grifter series, which gave you a lot more of that four-color spectacle. I got issues 3-5 the other day, so I may have more to say on this.
