Finally got around to reading "Sins of the Wreckers" over the weekend.
Over-all, it is a good expansion on the premise of "Last Stand of the Wreckers". Roche does a solid job of depicting nuanced monsters in a cast that largely consists of the irresponsible and dishonest.
Verity (a character with one of the most useful and thematic names in comics) stands for honesty, but her
call for honesty is tainted by her willingness to commit extortion.
Legitimate grievances are tainted by revenge. And, good intentions are muddied by bad actions.
Roche flirts a little too much with shipping
in regards to Prowl and Tarantulas.
But, the dynamic is
creepy enough
to make it palatable, if only
by virtue of highlighting inherent wrongness.
There are a few panels where the art is unclear in the later chapters. (Maybe Roche was still sorting out the problems that caused the series to be delayed?) And, there is a really stupid bit of contrivance
involving Iron Fist's remains
.
Questions about Prowl are resolved decisively enough by the end. I have no doubt that somebody (likely Barber) will use Prowl again. And, Prowl may well get
a shot at redemption. But, I want to see an intelligent case for why Prowl may or may not deserve that shot.
Either way, regardless of what happens next, it will be impossible to continue the previous holding pattern with Prowl. (One nice touch was Roche reconciling something that some people considered problematic about Costa's run.
Prowl gets periodic bouts of guilt. Presumably, Costa's run depicted one of those.
The back-matter includes notation on each chapter, both what was included in the final draft and plot points that were not. There is a significant back-write
involving Springer.
Given the reputation that Roche has, there was almost certainly a temptation to claim that
Springer's origin
was always planned to some degree. While I do not like back-writes, I applaud Roche's honesty in owning it.
Grade: B
