DC Comics; $3.99/$4.99

Milestone’s original Blood Syndicate took several issues to find its footing and settle down its creative team, but there’s no such unevenness apparent in this new first issue. The last of the original four Milestone titles to be offered in this current revival has strong ties to its predecessor.

Former Blood Syndicate artist ChrisCross is now current Blood Syndicate artist ChrisCross, and the book greatly benefits from his clear page designs and crisp storytelling right out of the gate. He’s joined by writer Geoffrey Thorne, inker Juan Castro, and colorist Wil Quintana, and the result is one solid comic book.

Wise Son and Tech-9 have survived their military tour in a dangerous, typically fictional DC Middle Eastern nation, and now they’re back in Dakota. It might be good to be home, but it’s a different terrain than they left with the presence of the Bang Babies, including Holocaust.

There’s a lot of set-up packed into this issue. There’s some great pay-off, too, but even that is just setting up more intrigue. It will be interesting to see if this creative team can keep delivering this kind of material each issue. If so, this one’s gonna be great.

– J.C. Vaughn