Image Comics reviews 8-19-26 – GI Joe 25, Redcoat 19

Hornsby & Halo 15

Tommy Trillionaire seemed like the ideal series to handle the introduction of new Unbelievables. Curiously, that title was limited to a limited series leaving it up to the other series — The Rocketfellers and Hornsby and Halo — to organically branch out the rest of the Unbelievables.

The challenge for writer Peter J. Tomasi is making these intros work within the natural flow of the ongoing story. He’s mostly successful though it does feel like the introduction of The Dead Tones is creating a side quest when Zach and Rose have their own ongoing subplots.

In this case they’re both getting visions as the people around them are starting to get more aggressive and irritable around each other. In turn, Zach and Rose are finding it harder to keep their powers in check so they vow to keep each other accountable and avoid playing the judge when they see some questionable activities.

The Dead Tones are a band comprised of members who have classic monster appearances and abilities like Medi who has snakes for hair and can turn people to stone with a glance, Vic the band’s Frankenstein’a monster roadie and Toog, the Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde character. Tomasi gives The Dead Tones engaging personalities and it seems at worst, they could headline a decent sized mini-series.

Artist Peter Snejbjerg does a fantastic job, as always with Zach and Rose, but his work with The Dead Tones might be more impressive. That could be due to the band being more visually interesting even without triggering their powers. Colorist John Kalisz also seems to appreciate having a more colorful group to tackle with a wide variety of color combinations to utilize. Letterer Rob Leigh works in some fun sound effects and text options for signage.

This was a solid intro to The Dead Tones who seem ready for some form of a solo spotlight while an intriguing Hornsby and Halo subplot gets temporarily sidelined to introduce another corner of The Unbelievables brand.

Rating: 8 out of 10