Magog #8 - DC

I have to say . . as much as I enjoy Howard Porter's work . . I'm glad that Tom Derenick took over on the pencils this issue. Tom's got a much darker, and grittier style to his work, that really fits this book, and character, quite nicely. Magog just looks much more like the hard-ass that he really is. He and his partner Axel are on two separate missions this issue. Magog has gone off to the Mediterranean Ocean to intercept a cruise ship that's been hijacked by pirates. It's a pretty open and shut case, until he finds out from interrogating one of the pirates that it's the people of Lesser Oceania that have done the hijacking. This is a very repressive country, but when Magog arrives he finds them in the midst of a civil war. Right there and then he should've backed off. But when he saw the military confronting the citizens . . he just had to get involved. 'China, Iraq, Kent State . . it never ends well. There's 3 ways I can take this. Bad timing on my part . . or right place, right time . . orrrr, both! I just know I'm going to regret this.' Famous last words. No matter what his intentions . . he's still an outsider. There's no way they're going to take his intervention well. But . . we'll have to wait until next issue to see what happens. Meanwhile, Axel has gone to a secret military base in Kansas because Mirage . . his personal computer, and apparently his best friend . . has lost all connectivity with the internet. That's where the Shield shows up. He's acting as security for this make-shift base. It appears that the only reason they don't put Axel in the brig is because he brings it to their attention about what's going on with the internet. And we also see that there's some kind of space-ship just outside of Jupiter's orbit also monitoring the situation. It's mostly aliens on the ship, but . . it appears that it's be commanded by an Earthling . . Colonel Tomorrow. It seems that they view the internet as more of a sentient being. They're actually surprised that we treat it as not much more than a novelty. It appears that they're actually trying to help us because the internet is getting ready to attack. They're just trying to figure out how to help us defend ourselves against it. But at the base where Axel is at, it may be to late. It appears that this has had some kind of affect on a couple of the soldiers, and . . with the Shield's suit being internet compatible . . it looks like he's been taken over . . posessed, maybe? This issue leaves a lot of open questions to be answered next issue. I think Keith Giffen is the perfect person to script this series. I think his mind skates on the edge of sanity, so . . he has the opportunity to present a lot of unique and cool ideas here. He's definitely a person that thinks outside of the box. And I think we need that originality to sell this character. I'm still not completely bought in. I mean, I guess they've given this guy a little leeway because he started out as a member of the JSA. But anybody else would've been in jail a long time ago. This guy is a serious loose cannon. And the part that I don't understand is . . I don't think he even realizes how far removed he is from where he started. It's either some serious denial, or . . insanity. I find this book entertaining, but . . frustrating at the same time. We'll see how long it lasts.