Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Fear Agent #28Fear Agent #28 – Out of Sight #1 of 5
Dark Horse Comics
Remender, Hawthorne, Moore, Lucas & Loughridge

Heath Huston is back with this issue after a long layoff for his final arc in the stellar science fiction series. This issue doesn't just serve as the reintroduction of the character and the complex plot. It manages to take everything that came before and up the ante in more ways than one. Remender doesn't hold anything back in making this comic a joyride of emotions and surprises. This is an excellent comic.

Heath has been a wild ride over the previous twenty-seven issues. Essentially the character we are currently following is a clone of the original. Heath is smack in the middle of an inter-planetary war between the Tetaldians and Dressites. It not only appears that every other human, including his ex-wife and child, are now Tetaldians-human hybrids, but Heath is mortally wounded by his daughter and requires his original body to save him.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsHeath isn't the only human to somehow avoid the Tetaldian infestation as his friend, Nicholas and his former friend turned enemy turned semi-friend Andi also survive and aid Heath in escaping to his original body. This issue ends with Heath's brain about to be transferred to his body when something goes unexpectedly wrong and not in just a bad way, but in a crazy bad way. Heath is going to have a lonely and uphill climb for the final four issues of the series.

The comic book dances around the difficult, but staple, science fiction topics of cloning, alternate timelines and alien technology. There's enough to make the story move in unpredictable directions but not to the point of losing the reader trying to overly explain how everything is possible.

This particular issue doesn't necessarily dive into Heath's personality but it does touch two very important areas: his love for his ex-wife and his alcohol abuse. The story is showing that both are impossible to let go of and both will most likely end up back in this series in a big way before the arc is done.

The issue contains a back up by Barta and Penalta that captures what made the character so great in the beginning. He was essentially a space ranger that takes on various jobs and somehow, in spite of himself, gets them done in his own stubborn and headstrong way. The character has advanced beyond this point so these backups are great additions to the comic book.

The artwork is handled by a small army. The issue has a lot of grease and guts in it and the art brings that part of the story out very well. There are some graphic scenes in here and if you are fan of some gore you won't be disappointed.

Fear Agent is an excellent science fiction comic book. It's different from Elephantmen because it really doesn't try to ground anything in a realistic setting. It keeps you guessing because you never know when at a given moment a character's head will explode or tear off their skin to reveal they are an alien in a human suit. The comic book is outstanding if you are into this genre at all. This looks like the beginning to a terrific arc.

4.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles