This issue is more indicative of what I’d expect from Tony Daniel… as a writer.  It’s not that this issue was bad, so much, just that it was a bit amateurish.  The worst part had to be the dialogue, as there were several bubbles that I had to read twice because the word choice seemed clunky at my normal reading speed.  That and the inclusion of some truly ham-fisted lines like “I can see my reflection in your eyes… and it’s KICKING YOUR ASS!”.  I could also lobby a complaint about the over-use of full names, but that’s long been a comic book mainstay.  Like I said though, I don’t think this was bad.  It just really does feel like what it is… someone’s second high profile comic book ever.  (Apparently, he has written other books, so this being his first writing work is a mistake I fell into, along with lots of others I’ve seen around the ‘net… so I guess I don’t feel too bad about the error.)  Beyond cosmetics, the real problem is that this story has offered no surprises yet.  I get the feeling we’re just moving the pieces into place, and where they’ll end up will be the most obvious places possible.  The art, while quite good, also does have the feeling like it was produced at a faster pace, but I can hardly complain about that, as it means on-time issues.  The success of this series, though, is that it gets me at least a little bit interested to see what Daniel would do if allowed to tell his own story, without heavy editorial direction.  Truth be told, one issue in he’s already shown a little bit of improvement over his initial characters-out-of-character attempt, so not only do I hope that he keeps at it after this series, but that he finds a way to pull the rug out from under us in the conclusion of this mini, and surprise us all.