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March 01, 2005
Subway Reading: B.P.R.D. The Dead and Conan
Rather than get into lengthy reviews of these two books, I am going to take a page from my secret identity as a corporate drone and give you my thoughts in bullet points. These bullet points are ready to be incorporated into any PowerPoint presentation, with the caveats that said presentation must feature no less than three (3) different scene-to-scene transitions; all title text must be animated using the "spiral" animation; and the "Whoosh" sound effect must be deployed liberally. If you do not have any idea what I am talking about, then you should immediately assume a kneeling position and pray to whatever higher being in which you believe. Your prayer must contain no less than four (4) different expression of gratitude that you are exposed to an unending stream of brain-sucking, communication-skills-eroding PowerPoint presentations.
(title page)
Conan #13
Kurt Busiek's Script
- a late (early?) Christmas present to D&D nerds like myself
- reader feels confusion from mildly convoluted set-up and expository dialogue
- this confusion mirrors the difficulties that Conan has with his predicament
- moral quandary
- world of gods and magic
- lack of physical enemies to slay
- guy coughs up a swarm of bugs that take the form of giant talking face - BAD-ASS
Cary Nord's drawing
- seamless storytelling
- tight design
- uncomfortable variation between tight and sketchy rendering from panel to panel
Dave Stewart's coloring
- frigging gorgeous
- conveys foreboding tone of story without being too murky or dark
(repeat title page, with rating dissolving in after 10 seconds or so)
Conan #13
4 stars
(at this point, there should be a delay while the projector mysteriously switches to a bright blue screen bearing a moderately cryptic "INPUT DEVICE NOT FOUND" message. The room should come to the consensus that the laptop should be re-booted. After the re-boot, the presentation can continue.)
(title page)
B.P.R.D.: The Dead #4
Characterization of Roger and Captain Diamio
- "Roger=dumb, Diamio=gruff" setup is often derided as being too straightforward or simplistic
- Closer examination reveals that Diamio's impatience comes from dealing with Roger's unusual Mignola-style dialogue, not necessarily Roger's simple-mindedness
Visual Aspects of the Book
- words do not exist to describe the awesome quality of Guy Davis' drawing
- the character design and the drawing on the last page are also beyond description but deserve to be mentioned
- Dave Stewart colors, once again, are frigging gorgeous
Plot, Story, etc
- reveals the back-story that has been at the center of the arc's mystery
- sets things up nicely for a big punch-'em-up in next month's concluding chapter
Overall Impression
- Mike Mig-who?
- Hell-who?
- the Hellboy character and universe have grown and expanded into comics that actually exceed the quality of the prior comics
- This is a rare and amazing accomplishment by Mignola and Dark Horse.
(repeat title page, with rating sliding in from left or right)
B.P.R.D.: The Dead #4
4 stars
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at March 1, 2005 11:17 AM