Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Gary Frank
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Cover Artist: Cover A by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Previously, a Las Vegas waitress called Caroline and her kids tried to run away from the post-apocalyptic Las Vegas to a fabled sanctuary. But they were taking a certain holy “grail” from Vegas’ resident mad King. Caroline was killed while her kids fled with the grail and were attacked by mutant bugs. But they were saved by Geiger himself, and now Geiger #3 shows just what the radioactive hero will do now.
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Review:
The last issue attempted to provide a grounded perspective of the comic’s post-apocalyptic world, while the titular Geiger took a backseat for the second issue. Now, just like the last issue promised, it’s back to tell his story. The second issue also had a time jump and took place after the King of Las Vegas had his fight with Geiger, or the Glowing Man. They showed the aftermath of their encounter and this issue plays out the whole thing from start to finish.
The comic issue is essentially an extended flashback to Geiger’s fight with the Vegas King, let’s call him that for now. It’s partly sad and somewhat underwhelming while also very fun when the fight really kicks in. Gary Frank and Brand Anderson do a great job with the art and colors especially for Geiger. One strength of this comic, let alone this issue, is that Geiger looks amazing when using his powers.
I call the meeting between Geiger and the Vegas King an encounter rather than fight because there’s hardly any fighting. To be honest, the comic focuses more on the personal drama of Geiger and the raw emotions from a certain revelation that’s revealed in the comic about him. But most readers will likely have picked up on it by now. However, when the moment happens, Geiger’s emotions come through in spectacular display thanks to Frank’s art and the colors by Anderson.
Geiger lives up to the visual design of a radioactive hero, the problem now is that he needs to start being a hero. The series was promoted with Geiger being a hero, but there’s been little of that. However, after saving Caroline’s kids, it seems that we’ll start to see more of Geiger’s heroic side in the series going forward.
By the end, the flashback establishes what Geiger has to lose and gain by helping Caroline’s kids. It shows that even though he’s a radioactive monster with a 2-headed pet mutant dog, Geiger still has enough humanity to help people in danger.
Final Thoughts:
Geiger #3 gives readers a solid flashback for readers to see. It doesn’t exactly move the present-day story forward, but it does move the personal story of Geiger himself a little bit. The encounter looks great thanks to Gary Frank’s art and Brad Anderson’s colors, while Geoff Johns goes for a more emotional experience for Geiger to overcome.