Dynamo 5, Volume 5: Sins of the Father

Dynamo 5 #5

by Jay Faerber, Julio Brilha (Illustrator), Marcio Takara (Illustrator)

Dynamo 5 teams up with guest stars from across the Image universe to defend Tower City from the sons of Dominex, three alien warriors whose father was humiliated in combat with Captain Dynamo years ago.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

136 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2011

Reviews

[47Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the pages have an exhausting amout of stuff happening. It's just a chaotic mess, to be honest. The story features some other heroes from Image series, but they hardly get a word in edgewise. The focus is still on Dynamo 5 who are just as dedicated to save Tower City as ever. They will face their greatest challenge yet and one of them will cross the line few heroes do.

The invading alien Dominex is as corny as his name suggests. He was defeated by Omni Man, Invincible and Captain Dynamo years before. Now three of his children want revenge for his defeat. Somehow, Dynamo 5 are the only ones available to fight them. No, wait. More superheroes see the fight on the news and join the fray. It's pretty clear why the series ended on this mediocre note.

Hours after the battle started, the good guys are losing ground. FLAG's super team called Primaries is brought to bear. Sandy Colvin, a boss or something in Flag, secretly intends to have them replace Dynamo 5 as Tower City's protectors. They're pretty useless too, except for berating the younger heroes.

After seeing his girlfriend Firebird wounded, Smasher uses a suit that enhances his abilities to deliver a fatal blow to one of the three opponents. Before the others can talk sense into him - thou shalt not kill, hero - he kills a second one. So far it's two hits, two kills. The third alien surrenders, but Smasher kills him too. Everyone is worried for the new killer of the group. He is only concerned for Firebird and has little empathy or regret for killing the aliens. Is he a supervillain in the making?

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, this series comes to an end on a whimper. The spark goes out as this book descends into an Image slugfest that is too much like Invincible. All the interesting things from the first 3 volumes seem to have gone away. The book wasn't bad but the drop off from volume one is severe. The story here was unoriginal and repetitive. The art was very good. Overall, not the ending (not that it actually ended) that this title deserved.

[Sarospice · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dynamo 5 are fun. I love the concept of the kids of an adultery Superman, each getting one of his powers. They form a team with his widow and it actually has a lot of character and intrigue. But I guess Faerber couldn't make it fly, like his Noble Causes. Maybe with better artists? Doesn't matter now. This volume ends with a bunch of epilogues but we'll never see the results. Boo.

[Carl Siggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This whole volume felt very rushed.

[Joe Sergi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The basic plot is simple yet creative. Captain Dynamo was a great superhero with numerous abilities who protected Tower City. He married an intrepid reporter (and secret agent) named Maddie Warner. However, Captain Dynamo was also an unfaithful letch and constantly cheated on his wife, fathering numerous illegimate children. After Dynamo is murdered, Maddie gathers five of these illegimate children (each with a different aspect of Dynamo's powers) and forms Dynamo 5 to protect Tower City.

What makes the comic great is Faerber's excellent story telling and focus on the family dynamic aspect to the book. This is not new territory as Faerber, who is also the creator behind Noble Causes. I should mention that Image recently released two very affordable archive editions for Noble Causes (V.1 and v.2). Both are must reads and actually feature the first appearance (and death) of Captain Dynamo. I guess that makes Dynamo 5 a spin-off of Noble causes.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jay Faerber turns in one of his better outings in what is likely the last installment of his Dynamo 5 series. A shame because I think he handled the characters better here than his had previously, and there is a lot of foreshadowing of future story lines. Faerber does conclude his tale of of the 5's father's most vicious and deadliest foe's sons coming to Earth to restore honor to their father's name. The big fight scenes are executed in typical Hollywood summer blockbuster style. What matters most, for me, are the smaller scenes that take place in the hospital, and post-fight as our leads characters have to deal with the physical and emotional effects of the battle's damage.

[Rye Bread · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rereading this series, it occurred to me how predictable and simple the overall story was. Nothing really new or inventive in the end.

Its a fun super hero story if youre not wanting anything complex but theres a lot of missed potential thru it all.