Geiger TP Vol 3 Review

 

Creators: Geoff Johns & Gary Frank

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artist: Gary Frank

Penciler: Paul Pelletier

Inker: Andrew Hennessy

Colorists: Brad Anderson & John Kalisz

Letterer: Rob Leigh

Editor: Brian Cunningham

Designer: Steve Blackwell

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $16.99

Release Date: June 4, 2025

 

After their battle with the Electrician, Barney feels down. Geiger and Nate wonder if the two-headed wolf will carry on. That night, Barney abandons their camp to protect and befriend a zebra. Geiger doesn’t want another mouth to feed. But Nate adores the three-eyed foal. So, the living nuclear reactor is responsible for four people. Can Geiger find the other glowing man like him and discover a cure for his condition? Or will the people hunting Geiger find them first? Let's grab some Boron dust, leap into Geiger TP Vol 3, and find out!

 

Story

Geoff Johns begins with a fight as Goldfield and other warriors try to capture Geiger. These knights regard Nate as a traitor. The Nuclear Knight understands the need to bring order to the post-apocalyptic wasteland. The warlords of Las Vegas safeguard civilization. They want the Glowing Man to unleash his immense power on their enemies. Before Nate sought redemption from Geiger, the Nuclear Knight served the warlords. Now, Nate protects isolated communities with his new friends in Geiger TP Vol 3.

 

As Geiger, Nate, Barney, and Zigzag travel to Lewistown, Montana, they find Nightcrawlers attacking people. When they realize the children donned radiation suits and risked the giant ants to find books, Geiger feels a link with them. Yet, the children also remind him of the family he lost. Before he became the Glowing Man, Geiger loved sharing his love of reading with his son and daughter. Like Geiger, these children’s parents mourn a world they can never have again. Unlike him, the community’s leaders disdain books.

 

After continuing Geiger's adventures with three recent issues, Geiger TP Vol 3 revisits the Glowing Man's origins. The two-issue story explains why the Russian bombs that decimated cities spread their mutation-producing radiation across the continental United States. Like the parents who fear the consequences of reading books, the Geiger: Ground Zero miniseries reminds us how often we perpetuate our ancestors' flawed legacies.

 

Art

While Nate cuts and thrusts with his sword, Geiger’s glowing skeleton slices through plate armor or breaks glass faceplates. As Geiger wields his control rods like truncheons, and the two-headed wolf bites and claws, the three-eyed Zebra foal watches. Paul Pelletier and Andrew Hennessy portray Geiger's battles with giant ants, repressive leaders, and the knights who seek Geiger as a wedding gift for the Queen and New King of Las Vegas.

 

Then, a Russian immigrant aids a military leader in Geiger TP Vol 3. Gary Frank peels away a quarter-decade to show Tariq Geiger’s fragile form before the radiation healed him. The art reveals why the military leader hunts the Glowing Man and, like Nate, how the Russian strives to relieve Geiger’s suffering.

 

Brad Anderson and John Kalisz lavish loaded palettes on Geiger TP Vol 3. Perhaps the brightest colors adorn a meeting in Las Vegas as the corpulent queen holds court. The warlords adopt iconic costumes from decades and centuries past. Subdued colors portray green-clad soldiers pursuing a glowing green skeleton through the gray night. Lamps illuminate the darkness as Tariq reads to his son and daughter. Sunlight helps a community glow when Geiger and Nate escort their children home.

 

Rob Leigh places uppercase black letters in dialogue balloons that grow bold for intonation, enlarge for volume, and shrink for lowered voices. Intense emotions distort balloons, while colorful dialogue amplifies the action. Sound effects help us hear the Nightcrawlers’ clicking, Zigzag’s braying, knights battling, control rods hissing, and a cherished memory incinerating. Script excerpts, process art, and covers close out Geiger TP Vol 3. Thanks to Image Comics and Ghost Machine for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

The Glowing Man is a dangerous man to know. Befriending him also has its perils. Painful memories propel Geiger on a desperate hunt for a cure in Geiger TP Vol 3. Yet his strange condition has allowed the morose man to survive and protect others from gangs, scavengers, and the monsters that terrorize the American wasteland.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

This review first appeared at Comic Book Dispatch.

 

For a look inside see my preview of Geiger #7, the first issue in Geiger TP Vol 3.