There are a pair of skeletal hands out for the knight. They glow green as the clutch has a head. The knight sees the light…but it’s the light that ended the world. And now the kings knows what so many others have come to know at the hands of the champion of the post-apocalyptic wasteland in Geiger # 7. Writer Geoff Johns, artist Paul Pelletier, inker Andrew Hennessy and colorist Brad Anderson advance the story of Tariq Geiger while also advancing some of the story of Geiger’s world. It’s a nice balance between various elements which suggests that the character in question is in very good hands moving forward.

Geiger and Nate the nuclear knight are trekking across the wasteland in an old, beat-up car. Geiger’s still looking for a cure for his condition. There are people looking to track Geiger down so that they can use him as a weapon. Geiger and Nate have other things to worry about, though. There are night crawlers  writhing around in the night. It’s a harsh world after the bomb. THESE night crawlers aren’t harmless, little worms wriggling around in the soil. They’re big. They’re ugly. They’re dangerous. Geiger and Nate have some serious predators on their hands. It’s a danger that scuttles along in giant carapaces while mincing giant pincers. 

Johns rides a very fine line between laughable silliness and poetic, legendary heroic action. The frustrating thing about this is the fact that the silliness of the situation lacks the kind of self-awareness that could make it appealing. Cain and Boyarski’s original 2 Fallout games had had a very sharp and cleverly self-aware approach to post apocalyptic humor that respected certain Cold War B movie traditions while also flashing a cleverly self-aware kind of humor about it. Johns seems to be taking those conventions a bit too seriously to feel totally comfortable for a contemporary audience.

Pelletier’s work takes the world of post-apocalyptic weirdness every bit as seriously as the artwork should. There’s real menace to the horror. Does it make sense that bugs are getting as big as they are due to radiation? No. Physics doesn’t work in a way that will allow for huge insects, but Pelletier delivers the menace of the bugs to the page with a serious respect for the horror of it all. The horror of Geiger’s condition continues to look darkly dazzling with some gorgeous luminosity being leant to the page by Anderson.

This series has been kind of hit or miss overtime. Some of the issues look really, really good. Johns’ work on the issue of the current series doesn't quite live up to the best in the serial flower. However, there are more than a few beautifully haunting moments that occasionally strike pose on the page. And things continue to look pretty good in various places from various angles. Given a long enough timeline, the series could really turn it into something remarkable. And certainly it seems popular enough that I could manage just that.

Grade: B-