This entry covers “Grifter” volume two issue 1 by Steven Grant, Mel Rubi, and Richard Friend.
Somewhere in Colorado, a crazy man is kidnapping some kids from a school bus. Lucky for those kids, Cole Cash is nearby and is contracted in to save the kids. You see, Cash is hanging out with an old Team 6 buddy when the local sheriff comes by with news of the kidnapping. Cash decides to do what he can to help the situation and save these kids.
Cash gets some info on the kidnapper, a former Army Psych Corp. Lt. Col. named Bo Thane, now going by the name Odyssey. Odyssey’s plan is to use his military knowledge to brainwash these kids and build his own militia that only knows him as their leader. We all know Cash won’t stand for that and moves in to bust up that tea party.
Cash first has to break through Odyssey’s original militia which is made up of grown ass men. Lucky for Cash, only one of them can put up a real fight, but this is the Grifter we’re talking about, that dude still went down easy. On to the kids. Yeah, Cash saves them, but he doesn’t get to take down Odyssey. See, Cash knows, if these kids see wanton violence at the age they are, and the mental state Odyssey has them in, it’ll wreck them for life and cause them to believe in an unjust, ultra-violent and messed up world. Cash just can’t let that happen to good kids, so Odyssey gets to walk.
The kids are all safe thanks to Cash, but the sheriff has some questions. Mainly, why would Cash help when he wasn’t tied to anything or anyone involved in this situation? Cash can’t answer that and walks away a bit grumpy. The readers and the sheriff know why, Cash, for all his faults is a hero, and will always look out for the disadvantaged. Despite whether he realizes this or not, Cash’s will to always “do better” is as much of defining trait of his as grim outlook, red mask, and VADs.
Continuity Corner:
- When we last saw Cash he was near the Rocky Mountains helping out Slayton fight with Beck. I realize that this issue was published WAAAAAY after that, but volume two of “Grifter” seems pretty evergreen as far as continuity, and heck, if Cash is already in the area, this seems like the perfect place for this issue!
- Cash gets his info about Odyssey from a friend at I/O. I figure that it’s Alicia, but I could be wrong.
- What the hell are Sam & Twitch doing in a Colorado police station? I thought they stuck to New York?
NEXT: “StormWatch” volume one issue 34 by H.K. Proger, Renato Arlem and Joe Pimental
weathering wildstorm 