Writer: Al Ewing & Crystal Frasier
Artist: Lan Medina
Color Artist: Antonio Fabela
Cover Artist: Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Gamma Flight is on the run, and now it’s back in action and on the move. The team was trying to lay low but couldn’t help themselves when a random gamma-mutate popped up. The mutate was one Dionne aka Stockpile, who was followed by none other than Skaar, son of the Hulk himself, clearly changed. During the beatdown, the team tried to teleport away but the makeshift process sent them somewhere strange. This puts them on the heels of a conspiracy and Gamma Flight #3 shows how far the rabbit hole might go.
Review:
Gamma Flight #2 focused on Leonard Samsons aka Doc Sasquatch as the point-of-view character for the story and this time it’s Puck in the driver seat. The characters find themselves stuck in a weird location that would be a spoiler in and of itself, as is much of the comic, which will be discussed in the Spoilers section. For the most part, the comic tells of where Gamma Flight finds themselves and what it has to do with Dionne and the mysterious Project Green Spring.
Al Ewing and Crystal Frasier find a way to balance out Puck’s likable gruff personality with a more heartwarming empathy. He spends a good time of the book letting people know about his adventurous history that may or may not excite people, mileage will vary on this. It’s not the best but it’s not the worst, it’s okay.
The comic also spends some time with Dr. McGowan and the conjoined gamma duo of Rick Jones and Del Frye as they try to locate the missing team. The story dynamic for these characters is centered on communication in this issue as McGowan tries to figure out how to find the team while Rick and Frye are trying to communicate how they can help.
For Gamma Flight, they run into some trouble in their new strange location, plenty involving unknown monsters and the rest involving those glowing zombies on the cover. Lan Medina and Antonio Fabela do a good job here, better than the previous issues now that they’re working with a more strange and haunting location to help contrast the main cast. It helps Gamma Flight stand out as well as the monsters they fight.
The book does provide answers to the gamma zombies, the weird location, and some answers to the people behind Project Green Spring. Most of which fall under spoilers, but rest assured there is a good horror backstory for all of these elements in the comic that should satisfy Immortal Hulk fans.
Spoilers:
So, it turns out the place they’re in is a Gamma Purgatory connected to the Below-Place. It’s described as an astral plane for gamma where “the gamma inside people goes when it’s not…deployed”. The gamma zombies the team have been fighting were gamma projections of the townsfolk of Thomasville, Texas who are caught up in this sinister plot.
Of course, the reveals don’t stop there as the comic delivers two big ones. First, it shows that General Reginald Fortean is the host of The Abomination as they see his broken form in the supervillain’s gamma silhouette. Apparently, the former leader of Shadow Base had gone through the Green Door but it was possibly hijacked by The Abomination. Second, Stockpile is Fortean’s daughter and they have a short conversation where Gen. Fortean reveals the purpose of Project Green Spring is to create an insurrection of gamma superhumans.
Final Thoughts:
Gamma Flight #3 keeps up the momentum from the previous issues. The story is solidly paced as it goes back and forth between the displaced team members and those back at their HQ trying to get them back. The art and colors look great in the new strange location that helps distinguish the Gamma Flight team from their surroundings and its monsters. There is a solid macabre backstory to the location, the gamma monsters, and other major reveals in the comic. Fans of The Immortal Hulk will definitely get their money’s worth in this comic issue.