Skyman Vol. 1: The Right Stuff TP
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Release Date: August 19, 2014
Price: $14.99
Creator(s): Joshua Hale Flalkov (writer), Manuel Garcia (artist)
Format: 112 pgs., Full-Color, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-6165-5439-2
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 3 Stars out of 5
 
For decades the government has had a covert agent known as Skyman, created to replace a missing in action Captain Midnight.  But when the current Skyman has a very public meltdown the government attempts to restore public confidence in the program by choosing a more media friendly replacement.  Injured Afghanistan war vet US Air Force Sgt. Eric Reid gets a second chance to serve and the high-tech flying suit even gives him back limited use of his legs.  But as he battles to prove that he's more than an affirmative action hire he uncovers the web of conspiracies lying at the heart of the Skyman Program.
 
Like the rest of Dark Horse's Project Black Sky line of superhero titles you don't have to know anything about the character's previous history to appreciate the new version, which is usually a good thing.  But it’s kind of a shame in the case of Skyman; he's been cast here as an out and out Captain Midnight imitator which seems a little unfair.  Although never the most original of characters, he at least had a distinctive outfit, as opposed to the fairly generic number the current one wears.
 
Skyman is as much a political and military thriller as it is standard superhero drama.  There are both the prerequisite soap opera elements and action (in this case, nicely choreographed man-to-man aerial combat), but readers should be aware author Joshua Hale Fialkov is more interested in the former than the later. There's nothing altogether new here but the familiar material is definitely well presented.
 
--Steve Bennett: Writer and retail services consultant.