The Weather Man vol. 1
Nathan Bright doesn’t quite have it all, but what he does have is pretty good. He’s the most popular weatherman on Mars thanks to his wacky personality and crazy on-air antics. So while fame and fortune are his, he’s got a personality that doesn’t really encourage the ladies to call back for second dates. This is why he’s so surprised when Amanda calls him back and the second time is looking like the charm for Nathan. At least it is until some nasty bounty hunters show up to take in this weatherman. For some reason they think that he’s part of the biggest act of terrorism the Solar System has ever seen: The extermination of 18 billion men, women, and children on Earth. Unfortunately for Nathan, they’re not the only people who believe this. The Martian Government doesn’t just think the weatherman was involved in that incident, they think he may be the only way to keep something like it from happening again.
Believe it or not this story of intense sci-fi action comes to us from the co-writer of “Shirtless Bear Fighter” Jody Lehup. Though “The Weatherman” is miles away from that series in tone and execution the writer’s skill at worldbuilding and creating memorable characters is a great asset here. Nathan’s a very likeable and sympathetic protagonist and the ways he deals with being wanted for a crime he knows nothing about feel very believable. There’s also a strong supporting cast made up of a bitter government agent, a mercenary who has a complicated past with said agent, and a scumbag selling pay-per-view vengeance across the Solar System. This cast and the world they inhabit all have an energetically detailed look to them courtesy of artist Nathan Fox. He delivers some incredible action scenes as Nathan is chased all over Mars and even the more esoteric stuff like when our protagonist is tortured within his own mind. This is a very strong start for what’s going to be a series-of-miniseries and I’m very much looking forward to seeing where Lehup and Fox take the title character next.