Shooting Blanks

Writer Tom DeFalco is best known for his work on the Spider-Man series during the ’80s.

After reading “Kid Colt,” you’ll know exactly why.

Dated and somewhat campy, this one-shot from Marvel Comics has its moments, but for the most part feels like a tribute to the comics of yesteryear that is incapable of connecting with today’s audience.

Bringing back the character that originally debuted in 1948 wasn’t a horrible idea, but mirroring the exact writing and art style the series had in a brand new comic ends up as pure torture to read.

While DeFalco is a writer from a different generation than the breed that is doing most of the writing today, this series doesn’t work to his strengths at all.

Over the past 20 years, writers the likes of Mark Waid, Robert Kirkman, Brian Michael Bendis and Geoff Johns have helped make comic books a medium for true stories to be told. No longer relying on the techniques of old such as flashbacks and cliché to tell a story, these guys changed the medium forever.

Despite the fact that DeFalco’s story is easy to read, it lacks any real punch and reads like a flat-filler issue of a 25-year-old comic.

It remains to be seen if this was done by design or because the character himself can’t hold down a series by himself anymore. All in all, it’s a shame that a talent like DeFalco has been wasted on something like this.

The art mirrors the writing here as well, as retro art by Rick Burchett is just as bland and unsatisfying. As a matter of fact, one of the main fighting sequences will remind many of Steve Ditko’s work on Amazing Spider-Man. While it may serve as a nice nostalgic side step for readers looking for something different, the art, like the writing, is nothing special and serves only to try and bring the series out of a dust-filled closet, rather than put a new coat of paint on it.
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Feeling like a ’40s spaghetti Western, this comic has plenty of action. Colt is a witty kid with charisma to spare, but DeFalco never takes it to the next level, making him a stereotype of every Western hero ever created. While reading, you want to like the kid; you just never get enough of a reason to. Sure, his parents are dead, but by the time the story starts, he’s already gotten his revenge. So why tell a bland story, with horrible villains (the bounty hunter looks like Abe Lincoln had sex with the bassist from ZZtop) at all?

Had Colt been put in a different scenario, perhaps this one shot could have succeeded. However, this is regretfully not the case. As a result, this comic gets stuck in the desert with a gun and no bullets.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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