By koppy mcfad
February 3, 2007 - 11:47
The Freedom Fighters must face the Cosmigods from the Moon. Meanwhile the evil President Knight moves ahead with his scheme to put the mark of the beast on every American. There are a little more details to this plot but essentially, that is it. What should be an exciting battle is resolved too easily when another Freedom Fighter pulls a new power out of her shapely rear end. The whole sub-plot, with the bad guy wanting to put tags on all Americans is just hokey. Ironically, despite the creative team's screaming liberalism, their story is coming off like one of those Apocalyptic "Left Behind" books where the AntiChrist takes over the world's bureaucracy and then uses the military to crush the last of the true-believers. The whole miniseries has been straining to turn into a parable of the political conflicts in modern America but the plotting is so heavy-handed, it comes off as simplistic and unconvincing. The art is beautiful. Maybe too beautiful. Each page looks like it could hang in a gallery. But the pretty art doesn't help in telling the story. There is crackling energy and moving bodies but it is hard to tell what is happening. Simpler art from Sal Buscema or Dick Dillin may not be as pretty but at least the readers would know full well what was going on. The only real strong point to this book is the confrontation between the Ray and a long-unseen Freedom Fighter. Now this is a conflict with real action and real dramatic impact. Maybe because it doesn't try to use politics to fuel it. Three out of five stars.
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters # 5 (of 8)