The Pickytarian: Subway Reading

October 23, 2004

Subway Reading

The Ocean #1 - Impressive art. Intriguing concept. And almost 6 pages worth of story, stretched out to 23! I mean, come on. I understand the need to establish setting and tone. But Ellis takes it WAY too far here. We're talking 83 panels in 23 pages. That's an average of 3.6 panels per page. Let's look at some of the most egregious examples of decompression here. Page 4 consists of 3 panels of buildings, establishing that we are in a futuristic New York City. Page 7 uses its 3 panels to show a ship taking off from the roof of a building. Page 20, 3 panels, establishing the setting of a ship orbiting Jupiter. The first panel on that page is also used to demonstrate the scale of Jupiter compared to its moons. But in case you missed that because of all the other action going on, the characters explain the same concept in the first tier of the next page. Penciller Chris Sprouse and inker Karl Story make a great team, using a confident, often minimal line and a unique yet traditional style to elegantly tell a story. The deisgns and executions of the various buildings & ships convincingly put the reader in this time and place. It's on the strength of this art and the sci-fi standby of discovering proof of extraterrestrial life that will make me continue with this series. But Warren Ellis has quickly earned a reputation for the writer in whose books nothing happens. And my annoyance with that style of writing prevents me from giving this book more than 2.5 stars.

Fantastic Four #519 - I'm not sure how to feel about this issue. We get the consistently expressive and fun style of artists Mike Wierigno and Karl Kesel. The idea of Sue's power enabling technology that could hide a planet from Galactus is a cool concept. -- SPOILERS WARNING! -- But Reed's sudden ability to switch the FF's powers around smacks of a way-too convenient circumvention of previously established story parameters. If Reed has had the ability to do this all along, wouldn't he have offered the option to Ben Grimm? Surely any of the other 3 powers would be less disfiguring and would solve one of the basic conflicts around which their story has revolved for 40 years. I can swallow the convenience of the just-in-time miracle invention. That's been a pillar of FF stories forever. But so has Reed's guilt and Ben's anguish over the latter's monstrous appearance. 3 stars.

Madrox #2 - I think the writing is starting to hit its stride a bit after the uneven nature of the debut issue. It seems like the dialogue flows a little better, though maybe that's also a matter of me getting to know the characters a little better. Plus, the central mystery is starting to take shape, and it's drawing me in. My big problem with issue #1 was the art. While there is some improvement here, specifically in the anatomy and the environments, the problem of distractingly unconvincing shadows remains. It's strange because Drew Hennesey, the inker, shows a very different style than he did in his fill-in work on last week's District X. Gone are the varying line weights, convincing textures, and restrained hatching that rescued the art in District X from complete disaster. Instead every shadow is weirdly shaped and hard-edged. The combined style of the pencils and inks remind me of a very poor man's version of Tony Harris (Ex Machina, Starman). Unfortunately that's a style that is much harder than it looks, and when it fails it fails spectacularly. On the whole, Peter David's strong script is counterbalanced by the unappealing art. 2.5 stars.

Posted by jdonelson_nyc at October 23, 2004 01:24 PM