A new week and a new set of “NEW 52″ put out by DC. This week we get something a bit out of the ordinary as DC is mixing in more characters that used to a part of the Wildstorm Universe and the Image universe prior to that. That’s right, this week we get GRIFTER # 1 by writer Nathan Edmondson and artist CAFU. So how does this Grifter stack up to the Grifter of the 90’s?Read on to find out!

I have been a big fan of Grifter as a character since I first read him in Wild C.A.T.S #1 by Image Comics back in the 90’s. He was a character that you felt was instantly a bad ass. He had a cool look and could kick ass like no one’s business. I thought of him more as the lose cannon, type a soldier of fortune. Then later in the early 2000’s they developed Cole Cash a.k.a Grifter’s character even more by developing his black op’s roots and gave him more of a noire feel. He even shows up in an excellent series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips called Sleeper. Now Edmondson has the reins to this is character that Jim Lee Developed over a decade ago and I have to say after reading Edmondson’s creator owned book Who Is Jake Ellis? over at Image I was very excited!

Grifter #1 starts with Cole on a passenger airliner going to an yet undisclosed location. The artist on this book draws him exactly like a blond Logan. This wasn’t something I was too happy about but I was hoping it had something to do with the story so I just ignored it, even though the resemblance is dead on. So Cole keeps hearing voice and starts freaking out as they are all suggesting that the people on the plane kill him. He catches on that the woman next to him will be the first to strike and decides to strike first, it is at that point that the ENTIRE plane turns against him and he decides that is his cue to jump plane…literally. He then jumps out into the water while killing one more guy on the way down. The book then uses this chance to catch us, the reader, up on how he got into this whole situation.

I want to take this breather here for a second to say if you like action then this is the book for you. However, having said that, my biggest problem with this book is how they are treating this character. In my own opinion he should be treated as a kind of Nick Fury meets Indiana Jones kind of character. My biggest fear is that they will turn him into a Logan/Wolverine clone instead of using this opportunity to really create something different and new. I felt right away that it might be a misstep to but him in what he is wearing at the beginning even if it did turn out to be a quick disguise.

The story then explains that Cole was still griftng and using his natural charisma to get him in and out of situations when he himself gets caught up in something much bigger and alien then he ever dreamed of. We also see a quick glimpse of his brother basically getting orders to go bring him in and the issue ends with our first glimpse of him in the now famous red mask.

Was this a great first issue? I will tell you after I read issue #2. As a stand a lone issue it didn’t grab me. I wanted to be thrown deep down the rabbit hole and figure out what is going on as Cole does. I wanted a book that instantly felt like you didn’t know if you should root for him or against him. What I got out of this issue are shades of Logan on the run from the law. My hope is that Edmondson has something much bigger to tell and CAFU will make a much bigger distinctions between Grifter and his similarities, even if they are surface, with Logan. My hope is we get the super gun for hire, action adventure star with a dash of noire that I know Edmondson can write!

Final Verdict: This is not the Grifter you know but it is a Grifter that could be far better than the one in your memory. Edmondson has a lot of work in front of him to develop this bad ass of a character and with a sandbox the size of the DC Universe he just might pull it off.

Sheldon Lee

Sheldon@ComicImpact.com