Gunslinger Spawn #23 // Review
Dakota is falling through darkness. She feels as though there's a good chance that she's going to die. If she's going to die, she's decided that she's going to take someone else with her. She manages to swing a rope around the neck of a monstrous clown. She's not going into the darkness alone in Gunslinger Spawn #23. Writer Todd McFarlane continues a rather large battle throughout the 23rd issue of the series. The artist Brett Booth and inkers Adelso Corona and Corey King are entering that battle with him. Color comes to the page courtesy of Ivan Nunes.
Gunslinger Spawn has his clown problem. (There's a lot of that going around.) The thing is lunging at him...teeth like daggers as it gets a bit too close. Naturally, Gunslinger is going to draw a pistol and fire. He'll be out of immediate danger, but a white-skinned monster with glowing red eyes might find its opportunity to strike while the title character deals with the clown. Things look suitable for Gunslinger Spawn once the t-rex shows up to even the odds. Things get a little weird then, but they don't get any less dangerous.
In the narration, McFarlane incorrectly identifies a t-rex as a "Jurassic lizard." It isn't enjoyable to point this out as it is to... point it out. McFarlane's scripting could be more exciting and enjoyable. The dialogue could be better. The overall flow of action across the page IS interesting, and McFarlane IS doing an excellent job of putting the correct elements on the page between clowns and cowboys and dinosaurs and monsters and things. It's all very well executed in general... It's just dancing around on the page without a whole lot of coherent grace.
Booth and company do the best they can with another issue-length combat sequence. A lot happens between the superhero, the monstrous humans, and the other monster. There's a perfect modulation of different types of action, aggression, and violence that feel remarkably fun on the page. Unfortunately, there aren't enough actual beats in the action to give any other powerful impact. This is too bad because so much on the page could be fun. It all matches together in a way that doesn't have any powerful moments. It's all a big, ugly car wreck. This is fun, but it needs more finesse that would make the fun memorable.
Dakota comes across as a fun character in an otherwise messy issue. Given the right narrative momentum, she could become something special in her title. Time traveling. She was working with dinosaurs and wearing a ridiculous-looking hat. It all works so well in the center of the panel. Cowboys and dinosaurs could be a lot of fun under the right circumstances...particularly with a dinosaur wrangler like Dakota.
