The Initiative was almost on my drop list, Until the Disassembled storyline finished and suddenly its proper Dark Reign story kicked in. However that's not what I want to talk about.Issue #27 mainly features the new Shadow Initiative, now not the black ops squad but more of a suicide squad made up of expendables. The issue is split into two parts, part two concerns the Shadow Initiatives mission to take back the negative zone prison recently conquered by Blastaarr in Guardians of the Galaxy and their slow realisation that they are now cannon fodder. However the first part is a story that is up there with one of the Initiatives finest stories. Yes, Christos Gage has written his very own washout.
The story is written from diary entries by Johnny Guitar, chronicling his and his friend Doctor Sax's progress through the villainous underground to eventually join the Shadow Initiative. Who, well in their own words, they fought Dazzler once.
Yes, Johnny Guitar and Dr Sax are every bit as Z-List as their names suggest. Gague however makes us feel for them, two small town losers, wanting to play music for a living but who fall into a life of crime and eventual super-villainy to support their families. It actually gives you a look about how so many of these small time criminals might decide to make up a themed costume and get a kicking from Daredevil once a month. In fact, the "Big Time" villain who tells them both to try super villainy and indeed later join Osbourne's initiative is none other that Pete Petruski, aka the trpaster, or as most know him, Paste Pot Pete, arguably the biggest looser on Spider-Man's list of foes.
Overall its a touching character based story, and you know what, I think this type of thing, a story focused on one character and their time in the initiative, could be this titles real power. I'm not against its arc plots etc, but more stories like "Washout" and "Even the Losers" would be great.
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