Salvation Run #1: Review

Salvation Run has every intention of hitting the high mark set by Villians United — the current champ in super-villain team-up series. It starts out with heavy action within the first three pages, leaping into a melee involving the Rogues.

The villians have been exiled to a strange planet with mysterious creatures that constantly attack without warning. It’s an exile with a heavy dose of punishment. No tools. No supplies. No assistance of any kind.

And it seems other villains are being teleported in to different areas of the planet on a regular basis.

It’s a great hook — a nice treatment for the “survive on a desert island” theme. Sean Chen’s pencilling and Walden Wong’s inks are beautiful together. The art is clean, solid, and graceful. The writing is pretty tight, too. I’m in for the series.

Predictions: A huge band of villains get teleported by the middle of the first issue — including the Joker, Psimon, Clayface, and Cheetah. Looking at the makeup of the band, I’m expecting a few things from the outset.

(1) Look for a number of third-thier baddies to get the ax. Mister Terrible, Hammer, Girder, Mammoth, Tapeworm and Shimmer should have insurance forms filled out in triplicate.

(2) They’ll ax some second-tier villains to push sales. So we’re in wild-card territory. My call: Psimon or Mister Freeze. Too much character development has gone into the Rogues, so I’d say they’re safe. But if a Rogue goes, look for Heat Wave to take the fall.

(3) Love story: You have to have on in a “desert island” story. Heat Wave has already foreshadowed this as he convinces his fellow Rogues to investigate the second wave of villains: “What if there’s some females in this new group?”

Weather Wizard responds that Heat Wave has made sense for the first time that day.

There’s no reason to have Hyena and Cheetah on the same exile planet other than a little puppy — er, kitty — love. But a more surprising pairing would be nice. Maybe Joker and another Bat-villain — to make things worse of poor Harley when they inevitably return.