Joe Casey Comics: Wildcats #12

[Continuing my look at Joe Casey's run on Wildcats. New posts Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.]

This issue has Spartan establish himself as Jack Marlowe, the nephew of Jacob Marlowe, one of Emp's human alias. This includes a funeral for Jacob Marlowe as well as a move from New York to Los Angeles--and, one can't ignore the name Marlowe when looking at that move.

One of the main thrusts is Marlowe's control of Halo now and his using the company's resources to better the world. Not much is explored here, but the set-up is done in a scene where the PR person for the company is weirded out that all of the talk is taken seriously by Marlowe.

A big chunk of the issue has us checking in on Pris and Jeremy in Miami as they get a message from Marlowe about the funeral ahead of time. This shakes up Pris as she and "Hadrian" have a past--which will come into play in the six-part "Serial Boxes" soon. Not much is done here, either, but it acts nicely as set-up.

Noir is positioned as an employee of Halo and Grifter drops Maxine on Marlowe's doorstep. The final page sets up next issue's focus on Void.

Casey continues to lay the foundation for his run by giving a lot of information with little payoff. I did enjoy the short scene between Marlowe and Grifter as Casey continues to use them as foils for one another.

Sean Phillips continues to wow, his mastery of body language and facial expressions doing much of the work here.

Next issue: Void.