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Released by: Dark Horse Comics
Release on: February 19, 2014
Sgt. Eric Reid is now three months into his stint as Skyman, a representative of the flag-waving, “amber waves of grain†ra-ra American patriotism to the world. This story has him performing some air-show maneuvers in Cairo, Egypt, for the locals.
During the show, though, he freezes up when he's surrounded by fighter jets. In flashback, we're shown a bit more of Reid before the accident that crippled him. He's a fighter pilot and things aren't going well in the skies over Afghanistan. But before we see what the actual traumatic event is, Reid is snapped back to his present reality by his handler and resident a-hole Lt. Sharp. His handler is understandably concerned at these “blackouts†of Reid's but, otherwise, the show was successful.
Leaving the air show, Reid goes off to call his wife. Sharp, though, receives orders from General Abernathy that he's needed so he dons the Skyman suit and takes flight. Eric soon sees a building on fire and, despite his disability, rushes toward it and into the fray, attempting to rescue people trapped inside. As he's dangling for dear life while holding onto a child he sees Skyman flying away from the scene. Afterward, he's approached by Gen. Abernathy who tells him the reasoning is classified and to just do his job.
That doesn't satisfy Eric, though, so he confronts Sharp in his hotel room directly. Sharp decides to let him know that all Eric is doing is serving as a PR stunt, a distraction from the real purpose of the Skyman program - a “black ops†sort of deal. Eric is incensed that this latest stunt killed innocents. Sharp counters that the real targets he eliminated were insurrectionist leaders who happened to be in that building. They argue this morality and come to blows, with Sharp calling Eric a “coward, a cripple and a murderer.†That's finally enough for Eric who knocks Sharp cold with one of his crutches and steals the Skyman suit, just to get it away from such untrustworthy forces. But, as he rises skyward, he realizes he hasn't really thought this plan through at all…
The story nicely gets more details here that help push Reid forward as an actual hero with or without the suit. However, the script by writer Joshua Hale Fialkov is so riddled with clichés as to telegraph itself nearly from page one. Which is too bad since the story he's telling is rather entertaining. Thankfully the artwork from Manuel Garcia is lush and detailed and he gets many action pieces to work with here. It's all good enough to keep me reading and anticipating the next issue, though, so it's worth checking out.
