i was a bit underwhelmed with the first issue of Run. i’m not going to say that you can’t write a good book about a villain – a villain is just another character, and read any of geoff johns “villain portraits” for his flash run to see excellent versions of this type of story.

the human flame IS a dick – in fact, sturges goes out of his way to show him lying to his ex-wife, endangering children, etc. but it’s not for no reason – he’s not just doing this for kicks. the flame is on the run, and we’re being shown that he’ll do anything to survive. and his dickery is SO exaggerated (the ex-wife scene is the biggest example) that it is kind of funny.

what was odd for me was what seemed to be a shift in characterization from the final crisis main books. in those, the human flame was portrayed as kind of a loser villain, a schlub. in this book, the schlub is gone – the human flame is a badass, taking out tough criminals, spraying flame everyone, and generally kicking a lot of ass. honestly, i preferred the loser – i think reading about how a barely competent bad guy gets by with everyone on his tail could have been a lot of fun. reading about how someone i’ve never cared about totally kicks ass was less enjoyable.

(on the other hand, is it sort of showing how even the loseriest of super-villains still trumps regular mafia types? i dunno, i guess i’d have to keep reading.)

the art was solid and clean, and i really did love this cover (it helped seal the deal on the book). but my comics budget is a tight one, and while this wasn’t terrible, it was’t good enough to stay in my rotation either.