Rifters #5 // Review
Fenton and Geller are on the trail of a really vicious murderer. And it's just a matter of time before they were able to finally bring this person in. However, they are going to be complications that only a time cop would have to deal with in Rifters #5. The writing team of Brian Posehn and Joe Trohman continue a buddy cop action sci-fi adventure with artist Chris Johnson and colorist Mark Englert. The action feels a lot more interesting than the plot that it’s bringing to the page, but that’s perfectly alright as the action is actually kind of fun.
The killer in question is dressed in black and has a robotic arm with which it wields a badass-looking laser lightning sword. Fenton and Gellar have to keep their distance if they’re going to be able to bring the perpetrator in without losing arms or legs or fingers. It’s not going to be easy, but the DO have a few tricks up their sleeves that might just be the difference between life, death and whatever it is that they’re doing. Things could get really, really complicated really, really quickly if they’re able to secure the criminal.
Posehn and Thompson have some degree of narrative momentum going into this issue. Having set everything up over the course of the past couple of issues, they are able to simply let the rest of the action play its way out over the course with the issue. There isn't too much that's going on in the issue that has actually been explored in some way in prior issues. However, there is a bit of complexity as the nature of the killer becomes a little bit more apparent. It's just enough to provide some momentum moving forward into subsequent issues.
Johnson and Englert bring quite a kinetic fuel to the page. The action might not feel all that immersive, but it does have quite a bit about it. There are a few moments where the art seems to lose the center of the action. For the most part, however, it's really well executed. Quite a bit of motion shooting across the page angles as the art is brought to the page in, equally angles. So it feels like a nice visual package. Transitions between scenes and locations don't necessarily fuel as powerful as they probably should. However, the overall momentum of the action continues to feel really impressive.
A couple of pretty good dialogue, this one seems to have fallen into the pattern that they had throughout much of the rest of the series. It's just not very well written with respect to the dialogue. And if things were presented a little bit more stylish on page it might develop into something a lot more. However, the center of it seems to be holding together for quite a while. And it's entirely possible that, some sort of satisfying rhythm as it continues into future issues. With any luck, Trohman and Posehn might be able to maintain a decent pulse of the series from here on in.
