Writer: John Byrne and Roger Stern Artist: John Byrne(p), Al Milgrom(i), Glynnis Oliver(c) Publisher: Marvel
Plot: The First Line and Thor battle the Rumor.
You won't get lost with John Byrne and Roger Stern at the helm. The book is a self-contained super story whose gears are oiled on strong characterization.
I've been trying to put my finger on why this Byrne project is so much more superior than his weak Spider-man: Chapter One and his nearly anemic X-Men: Hidden Years, and this issue gives me the answer. It's in the care with which Mr. Byrne crafts his characters.
One of the characters we meet in the book is Rebound. Look at how Mr. Byrne visually distinguishes her. Her feet are crossed. She's leaning back on the back legs of the chair. It's not that she smokes that makes her different. Its how she holds the cigarette that's key.
Many short-sighted critics have remarked how Black Fox is a cut-rate Batman. He's not. He doesn't talk like Batman. He does not behave like Batman. In this case we do have a way to compare and contrast. Mr. Byrne has rendered the Dark Knight in Untold Legends of Batman, Legends and a telling moment in Wonder Woman.
Mr. Byrne in Lost Generation creates his characters. He's not reiterating what has gone before, and he clearly has with a freer story structure not smashed into the writer's block he faced in Alpha Flight. Because his stars are more like sculptures than merely penciled or inked flat-people, every character must show a singular realism. Otherwise they'll seem shallow by comparison.
Observe page two. Mr. Byrne's Thor has never been a favorite, but in this book he stands seething. You can see it in his stance and the expression pinching his face. Later when Pixie who looks scrumptious as always dusts the Thunder God, Mr. Byrne produces a subtle reaction from Thor that is still within his range of character. Compare with Mr. Byrne's Cyclops who cannot be more wooden.
