Art by Tommy Lee Edwards
This comic has been generating a lot of buzz on the net, especially on Bleeding Cool, but the fact that the book is written by British celebrity Jonathan Ross had nothing to do with why I bought it. What attracted me to the book was Tommy Lee Edward's art, as he is someone who I have always enjoyed. Secondly, the concept sounded interesting; vampires trying to muscle in on organized crime in Prohibition-era New York.
The book is pretty good, but is a drastic departure from 90% of comics on the stand today. And that's because it's full of text. Ross has overwritten the hell out of this thing. I strongly support the idea of compressing comics again (or would that be de-decompressing?), but I do think there is still a place for editors to come along and trim out some unnecessary dialogue and exposition.
The comic focuses on Susie Something or Other, a society reporter for a New York newspaper who is desperate to be allowed to report on more meaty topics. At the start of the book, she manages to con her way into a crime scene where the mob boss Don Bava and his men have been ripped to shreds. From there, the story backs up a bit, and we learn a great deal about the four different families that control New York, and about the Dragonmirs, a group of vampires who have recently arrived in New York from the old country. Also, while all these people are trying to kill each other, a spacecraft crashes into the area outside of the city (I know, it seemed strange to me too).
Really, this is a good comic, it's just that there is too much text covering up Edwards's wonderful art. Ross needs to pare it down some; he could tell the same story at much the same pace, if he wasn't so repetitive, or would allow the art to tell some of the story. As far as first efforts go, this is more than decent, and I will stick around for the rest of the series for sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment