THE DISCIPLES: WHEEL OF FORTUNE

By: Tony Whitt
Date: Friday, December 21, 2001

The Disciples are not your typical dysfunctional superhero groupthey're the world's last line of defense against the modern version of the Templar Knights, the Valetta Corporation, who want to bring their god Bahomet back to life. Having failed (for the time being) in the first DISCIPLES miniseries, the Valetta Corporation has come up with a new plan, one which they hope will destroy the Disciples once and for all.

I'm not at all familiar with Clayton and Dows' original DISCIPLES series that was released earlier this year (co-written with current editor Gary Reed), so this is all new territory for me. Thankfully, it's exciting new territory, and as confusing and surreal as this one-shot is, it's the sort of confusing surrealism that simply makes you want to dig hard for the answers to your questions. It's also a fascinating combination of characters, including Eden, whose ability to read probabilities makes her deadly at the casino; Psiren, whose abilities can enrapture men and enrage women; and Dexter, whose abilities to control the powers of Voodoo sit strangely at odds with his everyday crime lord persona. And they aren't the only onesthis is quite the interesting ensemble.

One of the bigger problems with WHEEL OF FORTUNE, though, is that even the characters can't always make the complex storyline comprehensible enough for a new reader, even for one determined to see it through. There's more than enough here to keep you reading, of course. One captivating idea is the Apples of Sodom, which create a desire so strong in anyone who sees them that the poor unfortunate wants nothing else. And for those more libidinally-minded male readers, there's always Eden and Psiren to follow around, as most of the book concentrates on their mission. The artwork should provide several surprises as well. It's got an interesting quality that combines photorealism and startling surreal imagery, all of which brings to mind the work of Eddie Campbell. And while Campbell and Shuput's rendering of the girls doesn't descend to the T&A level, those readers I mentioned before should appreciate it all the same.

My only concern upon finishing this one-shot is that even after delving deeply enough to try to learn something about the intricacies of this series, I'm still no closer to knowing exactly how this particular battle is won. Understanding the ending is dependent on understanding the images, and I can't be quite be sure of what I've seen. However ambiguous the ending is, however, there's no denying how good this book looks. It'll be interesting to see what future incarnations of THE DISCIPLES bring.

THE DISCIPLES: WHEEL OF FORTUNE

Grade: B+

Issue: N/A

Author(s): Colin Clayton, Chris Downs, Laurence Campbell, Larry Shuput

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.95