Lobo #1

By Cullen Bunn, Reilly Brown and Pete Pantazis

There were many characters that got makeovers or updates when the new 52 launched a few years ago. None, however, were met with as much hate as the new Lobo. Complaints were made about his look and he was compared to an emo kid or even a character from the dreaded Twilight movies. Lobo #1 by Cullen Bunn is just the book to turn those frowns upside down and give some substance to this character.

The villains month issue did absolutely nothing to help Lobo come off as interesting or make anybody want to read more about him. For this series, we have Cullen Bunn, who has done a pretty good job with most of the titles he’s taken on. The first thing he does that makes this a good read is he gets rid of the annoying contradicting statements. That was one thing that turned many people off of the character. Bunn also gives us a good internal monologue that helps us get a better understanding of the characters motivations. We know why Lobo is always angry, and it’s very reasonable. There is a bit of a love story involved, which some may not like, but it doesn’t kill the enjoyment of the issue. Bunn also comes up with some cool creative kills that any reader will enjoy. Bunn definitely makes this an entertaining first issue, and it has a decent plot so far. If the writing keeps up, he can certainly turn this character around.

The art duties are by Reilly brown with colors by Pete Pantazis. Brown starts the issue off with very close panels as both Lobo’s are engaged in a fight. The blood and bruises are amped up and look very good. Reilly also does well with his few pages of flashbacks. Pantazis uses pastels to differentiate the flashbacks from the present, and it comes off very successful. Brown does a very good job with the action as well. Seeing aliens being sliced in half or scalped is always cool to see, and Brown draws it great. He really brought his best pencils for this first issue, and it shows.

Lobo #1 is surprisingly fun and well done. Cullen Bunn has made the character interesting and has given him a cool mission. The pencils and colors were very good and complimented the story and writing. This has potential to be a very good book, but the quality needs to remain because there aren’t enough fans of this new Lobo yet. Any misstep could be disastrous, but Bunn and Brown seem focused and ready.