Brainboy #1 Review: Slowly Becoming Cool

September 21, 2013 Patrick Hickey Jr. Books & Comics 0

Psychics, assassins and communists. Brain Boy is not your average comic to say the very least.

Although heavy and dialogue and lacking in breakneck action, you’ll find its return to comics an interesting mix of cinematic storytelling and comic book craziness.

Written by the always busy (because his talents are usually called for across a myriad of comic book companies) Fred Van Lente, the debut issue of this forgotten gem has the potential to be pretty damn exciting, even if its first appearance in the comic book world in more than 50 years takes a bit too long to develop. Who those of us who haven’t a clue to the lineage of this series, it was originally created by Herb Castle and Gil Kane in 1962 and centered around a telepath who fought against a psychic, one Fidel Castro.

Yeah, you read that right.

This time around, we have the modern-day Brain Boy, a Secret Service contractor who’s powers are beyond cool. Not only can he read minds, he can see into someone’s subconscious and see their innermost thoughts. He can even levitate and look in a room and get an idea of who was there prior. Crazy isn’t the word. Simply put, Matt Price can and should be something special.

His backstory is also chock-full of twists and turns, which will make the future episodes a peach to unravel. The killer ending to the debut issue, although somewhat expected if you’re really paying attention, still delivers the goods.

The only problem is the comic feels like one-man show. Van Lente’s story is solid, there’s just too much dialogue and text on the page. R.B. Silva’s pencils are on point and cater to the serious, yet wildly unpredictable main character, but we’re never drawn to them. Instead, you’re trying to read all the text on the page. For the comic to truly blossom, there needs to be more synergy between writer and artist.

That squabble aside, those who can digest the text heavy tale will find it a smart and catchy comic with plenty of room to develop. But that all depends on how willing Van Lente is to letting Silva have more room on the page.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13881 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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