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Friday, September 3, 2010
Reviews
The Lone and Level Sands
by A. David Lewis & mpMann
Caption Box, $9.95
Quite simply, it's the Biblical Exodus story from the perspective of the Egyptians – in particular, the Pharaoh Ramses, who is presented here not so much as the malevolent dictator of myth, but as little more than a pawn in a power struggle between deities. Regardless of what religion you are, you've doubtless become familiar with the Exodus tale, through the movie The Ten Commandments if nothing else (though I like the animated movie The Prince of Egypt better). A. David Lewis' approach to this story reminds me a great deal of classic Greek tales like The Iliad and The Odyssey, in which ordinary mortals are caught up amidst supernatural forces at work, and know that they're being manipulated by them, and are resigned to play out their roles in the conflict to the best of their ability.
Here, Ramses sees his loved ones and trusted advisors telling him not to let the Israelites go, and he realizes that they're acting as vessels for the gods to speak through. And though he tries to hold things together as best he can throughout all the plagues, and be true to the legacy left by his father, he knows that he has no real say in what happens. Moses is presented more or less as the pious servant of the Lord you'd expect, with Aaron as his wisecracking sidekick who loves to twist the knife ("Your boils look painful. Do they make speaking difficult?").
The art is decent – reminds me a little of Cliff Chiang and Javier Pulido – but I was bothered by the lettering and the balloon placement. First of all, there were an annoying amount of typos, especially in the first half. Second, both "Yahweh" and "Yaweh" kept alternating back and forth throughout the whole book and it was a great distraction. I don't believe it was intentional, and I've never seen the name Yahweh written with only one 'h' anywhere else. I didn't like how some word balloons took up the negative space between panels; it kinda takes you out of the story and makes you more aware of the page layout. Also, there were places where the lettering was s t r e t c h e d o u t, another needless distraction. This may sound like nit-picking, but I shouldn't notice the lettering unless it's for a reason, like when the font changes to a scratchy look whenever the gods speak through someone (a great idea, well employed). And there's no excuse for so many typos and misspellings.
Overall, though, this is a fine, if flawed, effort at presenting an alternate look at one of the greatest stories in all of human history. B+
Silent Forest
by Adam, Christian & Nick Beranek and Chris Burke
Silent Devil, $11.95
A bunch of funny animal types hanging out in a forest, keeping humans away and having all sorts of goofy misadventures. The humor is tame and familiar; lots of pop culture parodies – too many, in fact. I realize doing something like this in strip format would invite comparisons to Bloom County and Liberty Meadows (if they weren't being made already), but I think doing so might help refine the characters and better establish their relationships to each other. As it is now, this reads more like writing by committee: take the cast and plug them into a generic plot and see what happens. With three writers credited, I wonder whether in fact that was the case. The art, by contrast, is sharp. Very bold, dynamic and detailed, but the characters tend to have a sameness to their look – faces look like they're made from the same template with only minor variations. Nothing new or different here. C+
Blow
by Robb Swinton
DreaMechX, no price listed
Tales of a blues trumpeter and part time hit man – I think. It's a bit hard to tell for sure because while we see the protagonist engaged in gunfights, it's never made clear who they're with or why. One almost thinks gunplay is thrown into this book because it's the cool thing to do. It feels superfluous, which is a shame because this could be an interesting series. The creator clearly has a deep appreciation of jazz music, and the writing has a lyrical, free-association kind of poeticism evocative of another era ("No sheet music, no silly chat about dis and dat, purely on the fly. It's the gig – the revelation of the holiest of holies"). The art, at times, looks as if it's trying to channel Steranko and Miller, but comes up far short. The hatch lines are sloppily rendered and there's some experimenting in greyscale tones that add nothing to the overall look. In addition, the lettering needs to be a lot neater. There is potential here, but I believe the artist should stop trying to go for a Sin City-kind of look and work on refining the basics. C
Heroes in Birmingham #1
by Rachel Kadushin, Ruben Caldwell & Ed Meares
Best Friends Productions, $2.95
In a quasi-futuristic society, a young ex-military super soldier looks to rediscover his fortune by moving to the "city-state" of Birmingham, an environment home to a number of costumed champions in and out of the public eye. Give the creators credit for cramming a great deal into this story, but it has its weaknesses. The dialogue has a certain disjointed rhythm to it that's off-putting. The speech patterns sound artificial – adults calling kids "lad" or "laddie" as if this were set in Ireland; the exaggerated Southern accent of Mercutio, the lead character, not to mention the "tough guy" voice of the goons on pages 8-16; and the repeated use of archaic words like "mayhap" that sound completely incongruous here. Also, there are places where the word balloons divide up the dialogue in peculiar ways that doesn't read like natural speech.
Mercutio enjoys helping people as a superhero, but he clearly also wants to get paid for it. These aspects of his character don't get played up enough, and they should. Does he feel guilt for being a gun for hire? Does he feel he gets paid what he's worth? We dont get any indication here, and given the presence of all the corporations and government agencies that have their own heroes in this book, I think these are questions worth exploring.
The subplots about the other heroes are interesting in their own ways and definitely leave plenty of room for future stories. The art is very good, with an old school feel to it. There are places where the greytones and cross-hatching are somewhat overwhelming – I'd prefer to see the artist soft-pedal the greys a little and go with a higher contrast, or at least smooth them out more and use less cross-hatching. This book is setting itself up for big things from the looks of it, but it needs a stronger and more consistent writing style that clearly defines this place and these people. As it is right now, it still feels – and looks – like a work in progress. C+
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A few quick things: I had intended to get only one book for Free Comic Book Day – the Amelia Rules zero issue by Jimmy Gownley. But when I went into the Grand Central Midtown Comics, some kid right in front of me got the last copy! That's cool, though; a kid should have it. I went to the Times Square Midtown (which was PACKED) and they were handing out "grab bags" of free comics. I took one thinking Amelia would be in it – it wasn't. So I went downtown to Jim Hanley's Universe and finally got it, along with some other stuff – they were letting people pick any four from among the ones they had, though when I was there, at least, there weren't a whole lot of people picking up the freebies. It was somewhat busy, but not for the free comics. In the next review column I'll talk about some of the stuff I picked up (including Amelia).
Fay Ryu, who you recall I wrote about earlier this year, was kind enough to send me an advance copy of the new, mass-market version of her graphic novel Hello. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to maintain the unique printing style. It's bound like a regular book, so it's less of an art object than her original version. It is much bigger, though – it's 5" x 7" – with a new cover. Pick it up; it's a wonderful little book.
Haven't seen anyone else talk about this yet – it's a new blog called Creator's Corner in which any comics creator can post, whether you're an established pro or a small presser. It was apparently a Warren Ellis-inspired idea in which information about creating comics can be shared in one place. It just got started; let's see how long it'll last.
Finally, I'll be attending the East Coast Black Age of Comics Expo this weekend in Philadelphia, appearing on the early panel at 1 PM. The June issue of Glyphs will have the coverage, with interviews and profiles of books from the show. E-mail me if you wanna be on the mailing list.
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
