Comic Info
Comic Name: Grifter (Volume 3)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Nathan Edmondson
Artist: CAFU/Jason Gorder/Scott Clark/Dave Beaty
# of Issues: 8
Release Date: 2012
Grifter (3) #4
Reprints Grifter (3) #1-8 (November 2011-June 2012). Cole Cash has been kidnapped by aliens. Awakening on their ship as they experiment on him, Cole finds he’s lost seventeen days of his life. Now a man used to running a con, finds himself running from international agents who think he’s a terrorist and aliens whose thoughts only he can hear. With everyone searching for him, Grifter doesn’t realize he’s the one being used and he must discover for what means.
Written by Nathan Edmondson, Grifter Volume 1: Most Wanted is part of DC Comics’ New 52 relaunch of the DC universe. The collection features art by CAFU, Jason Gorder, Scott Clark, and Dave Beaty.
The series was a bit of a surprise when the New 52 titles were announced and with moderate reviews is suffering from some of the lower sales numbers of the new titles. Grifter (with Voodoo and Stormwatch) helps really establishes the Image/Wildstorm Universe as part of the New 52/Post-Flashpoint universe. The character first appeared in Image’s popular WildC.A.T.s (1) #1 (August 1992) and helped launch the Image revolution. Grifter was a part of the whole Flashpoint series, and it was good to see that it wasn’t just a fluke of the mini-series. It also starts to set up the war between the Daemonites and Kherubim and hopefully that will be expanded in future issues (Helspont also makes an appearance in Grifter #7). Cole’s brother Max is also back in this collection, but it appears he might be an early victim of the war.
Grifter (3) #7
I actually like Grifter despite some of the criticism it has received. I wasn’t even a very big early Image/Wildstorm fan, but I am really interested by the merging of the two worlds in the New 52. With Grifter, Voodoo, and Stormwatch in their own titles and Fairchild (of Gen13) an important part of Superboy, the crossovers seem much more permanent and interesting than the little DC/Wildstorm crossovers of the past. I look forward to seeing how Grifter interacts with other characters.
Grifter does suffer from a story that doesn’t seem to have much direction. Unlike a lot of the stories, Grifter has been kind of jumping adventure to adventure with less organization than some of the other New 52 titles. He has an adventure with Green Arrow and a fight with the Midnighter, but the battle with the Daemonites feels too all over the place.
Grifter is a good series with good art, but I think that it won’t have a very long life. The story is just missing a bit of the oomph that it needs to really get it to find its niche. Obviously the creators are also worried about it too because Grifter (2) #8 feels like a really rushed way to possibly wrap-up the series and switch writers/artists. I hope Grifter sticks around, but I worry within a few more issues his game might be up. Grifter 1: Most Wanted is followed by Grifter 2: Newfound Power.
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