The Bionic Man #18
Written by Aaron Gillespie
Pencils by Rey Villegas
Colosr by Thiago Ribeiro
Letters by Simon Bowland
Covers by Mike Mayhew & Ed Tadeo
Special Thanks to Phil Hester
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: March 20, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

The Bionic Man #18 is another in a string of fun issues. One thing that I love is that this book doesn’t take itself seriously at all. Yes, it’s an action comic. Yes, it’s a super hero comic. But, it’s played tongue and cheek, and at the end of the day is really entertaining.

Aaron Gillespie turns in an actually quite thrilling script for this second part of the “Desert Deathtrap” storyline. Steve goes undercover, WAY undercover, in Jardan to take out an evil dictator. Gillespie goes a GREAT job when it comes to writing the spy game, and you’ll find yourself lost in the story really quick. Another one of the strengths in this issue is that it doesn’t read in 5 minutes. It’s a nice, meaty story with lots of detail and twists and turns. My only complaint would be that it’s a little lighter than I’d like in the bionics department. I mean, c’mon, he IS called the Bionic Man. If I wanted a straight-up spy book, I’d read something else. But, it doesn’t take anything away from the book, as I mentioned earlier, it’s really a quite fun and really enjoyable.

Artist Rey Villegas is a competent artist, he’s not bad at all, but I just wish someone AWESOME was on this book. Villegas does a good job setting the steamy, grimy, and generally unpleasant atmosphere of the book, but he hasn’t quite mastered human anatomy yet. I’m sure with time, he’ll be fine, but I’m afraid here, his work is sub-par at best.

All my complaining aside, I liked this issue. It’s a good read and fun time. Grab it, you’ll definitely be entertained!!