What has made this, now dead in the water, series so damn fun is the art. Keith Giffen has made a loving tribute to Jack Kirby for the past five issues and he has brought the love of Kirby back to me. So imagine my distraught face when I saw that Scott Kolins is now doing the interiors for this issue. If this was the old Kolins, or I mean ‘Good’ Kolins, this wouldn’t be much of a problem. But this is the ‘New’ Kolins where his style is so ugly I avoid his work like the plague. But I had to bite the bullet because we only have two more issues to go and I’ll be annoyed not to spend money on this underrated series.

So let’s get right to the art where I can kindly say it is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact, it was pretty good even if it’s not the same Kolins you would like (ala his Flash run). It’s cleaner then Giffen but it does have a lot of detail to it. Other then the obvious ‘Kirby Dot’s you got a good looking, messy desk and various action panels that look really good. However, some of the magic in this title has been lost because of no Giffen. Other then the dots there is very little Kirby homage in this issue which is what really made this series shine. No big chins, no exaggerated poses, even with good action scenes it does evoke Kirby. So while it is a good looking issue overall it does lose lot of magic along the way.

The story itself is a bit weak if I have to be honest. Obviously Dan Didio and Giffen are playing it fast and loose but this time it doesn’t gel too much. We get a bizarre Female Fury here but nothing too outrageous like Cyborg Gators and the like. I have a very good feeling if this title wasn’t going to go away then Darkseid (or at least Apokolips) would play heavily down the road. Instead it reads like a rushed issue to get to a conclusion I’m sure the guys would have taken longer to get to.

So at the end of the day, it’s a good issue to be sure but nothing quite special like before. Scott Kolins has some good work in this issue but he doesn’t evoke Kirby like Giffen would have. (That and I have a sneaking suspicion Scott Koblish and Hi-Fi made sure it didn’t have Kolins painted style) The story is okay, but it isn’t as crazy as it should be considering what has come before it. I have no doubt even with a cancellation looming Didio and Giffen have some special planned for the ending. It just would have been nice if the magic could have stayed for all eight issues.