|
 |
“Alan, Focus, their beyond saving.” I don’t know,
that just bugged the crap out of me. I see these
errors not just for a big outfit like Image, but
sometimes for Marvel and Devil’s Due, too. It’s
annoying, and there are two more errors like that in
the issue, believe it or not. “Sharkman” is another
in that mold of classic pulp heroes, where our
average man is also a socialite in the way of Lamont
Cranston and Bruce Wayne, who hob knobs with the
rich and elite, while also fighting crime as the
underwater hero Shark Man. While I’d love to put it
in the hot seat for being another of the many “Iron
Man” wannabes, it’s a pulp hero, it’s a pulp comic,
and damn it if I didn’t have a blast with this.
|
|
Alan
Gaskill is the founder of the Utopian paradise
New Venice, a world splashed over the sea that
acts as a new world for people willing to live
there. But when he’s set up by a higher
organization and framed for taking money from
his biggest bank in the city, Alan, or Sharkman,
has to prove his innocence and retain the
respect and trust that assured his citizens
once. On the meantime, someone with incredible
resources is breaking every secret Alan has in
half, and attacking his livelihood while Alan,
who has an enormous amount of control in the
process, must figure out how to clear his name
and get back to keeping his shores safe as Shark
Man. But events take a turn for the worse when
Alan is murdered by a mysterious specter named
the Shadow King, and who is destined to take his
place? His son Tom. “Shark Man” is often too
clever to really rag on, and writer Pugh takes
the classic formula from other pulp mythologies
and implements here with enough style and
finesse to make it an enjoyable series worth
pursuing. As for the art work, it’s just what
the doctor ordered with some incredible work by
Steve Pugh who plays the vision of this world
with great pacing and incredible splashes of
gold and blue.
|
|
