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Released By: Dynamite Comics
Release Date: November 12, 2014
The Story:
When it comes to an Alice Cooper comic, it shouldn't be too hard to give the people what they want. And as the people, I think that a good dose of rock 'n' roll, a little evil, some leather and at least a couple of snakes are all that's needed to make an Alice comic successful. Truth be told, the last couple of books in this series have been lacking in storyline. Far too much going on, too many plotlines, and a little too much WTF is the point of this, now? for my liking.
Book #3 is a definite improvement over the last two, in that it tries to at least introduce a little more rock 'n' roll to the story. Writer Joe Harris brings us back to the Philadelphia Spectrum in 1975, a year that Alice was touring heavily in support of the Welcome To My Nightmare album. (Trivia: Suzi Quatro opened on most of these tour dates, including the Spectrum). The crowd is huge, the show is massive, and all seems to be going well until Alice is blown across the stage by an electric chair mishap that sets fire to the concert venue.
Furious with his management for almost killing him and his fans, Alice meets Lucius Black, the weaselly little man from the first two comics, who understands Alice's need for theatrics. As we now know, Alice drops his management for Lucius and a contract that has seemingly bound him for life.
Although it's nice to have the background established, one can't help but think it would've been nice to have access to that information at the beginning of book #1, when Alice was reminiscing about his past life as a superstar. Anyway, with the one sane piece of story put in place, Harris sends us off in 40 different directions again, with Alice attempting to get out of his contract...still....while trying to figure out what to do about Robbie, the backwards-record playing boy from earlier in the story. For some reason, though, Alice can't remember Robbie's name, and Robbie's sister has just encountered Lucius Black in her quest for help.
I don't know. The opening of this book clears up Alice's background and introduction to Lucius, which is great, and actually a fun read. But the story suffers once again from Harris' kitchen sink mentality, and far too many story ends to tie in. What begins as straight ahead rock 'n' roll with a bit of evil turns into a whole lot of WTF and Alice taking cellphone video of a bully and his gigantic nightmare mother. As I said... WTF?
The Final Word:
It's nice to see a bit of straight-aheadness in this series, but if my patience level is any indication, this whole story is sliding sideways into the Land of Indifference... fast.
