Like the first volume which had Hundred dealing with a controversial art exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, Vaughan keeps things topical by having the mayor handling the type of issues that Giuliani would eat up but the much more liberal Hundred handles it very much in his own way. Vaughan has an annoying habit of peppering each chapter with political trivia that always feels shoehorned into the dialogue but that is also evidence of the research he's been doing to make the politics more of a hook for the reader.

Though Vaughan has shown a skill for fun stories with unexpected cliffhangers here and in his other successful books (Y: The Last Man and Runaways) there are two things that really make this book work. One is the photo-realistic yet expressive artwork by Tony Harris. Harris models each panel with real people yet his linework gives it enough character to keep it from being plastic-looking. The realism in the art goes a long way towards making you believe the mix of grounded politics and sci-fi fantasy. The other key factor is the uniqueness of the main character. He's well-meaning but flawed. Sometimes selfish, sometimes in over his head. Though the series is still at the beginning, Mitchell Hundred could turn out to be one of the great comic book characters if the series continues at this quality.

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