I've said on a few occasions before that I measure the excellence of a comic by how well I am following it. The beginning is a mixed up mess of junk. If it was split off by itself - I would have stopped buying the comic. I can remember going through the same fight with myself when I was reading Archer & Armstrong - and going back to the LCS and telling them to stop pulling it. And I believe that I told him to stop buying all of the comics. That I was essentially done at that point. Then, it took a really effective turn. Somewhere in the conversation with the woman - and the determination to make the serious change in his life, the story got pretty compelling. Of course, it meant some serious sacrifice there - but I found myself jumping and reading faster. It was driving me toward the edge. If the book gets to that level, it will have some success.
A little better doesn't mean good.
This tine bits of improvement don't mean that the book is good yet. But it is taking some TINY steps forward toward being a better book now. The story is still a crazy one. He has taken some steps, though. I liked the way he was sort of stuck in a quandary - even though the trap was a silly one. Really? Nuclear tape on the back of the skull set to destroy a bomb if it's removed? But I did like the two stories pit against one another that fought back and forth. Sort of the whole Star Wars back and forth thing inside of the comic, right? I also liked the little reference at the beginning to how Kirby starts the comics with the big conflict - that doesn't already reveal itself until later. But has a long way to go still.