There’s some great stuff in the issue, specifically where Hawkins describes how space battle works between ships. He does some quick, but detailed exposition, then carefully maneuvers the dialogue to reinforce what the reader already has passing familiarity with. It works out very well.
And the issue, which takes place over an hour or two, works out. It’s tense and compelling, with Hawkins never giving any comic relief. There’s no relief valve for the tension, except maybe through the art, which is never good enough to transport the reader to the battle. There are some good establishing shots in the issue, for double-page spreads, but it’s otherwise the same weak Jeong art as always.
The problems come at the end of the issue, with Hawkins wrapping things up too quickly. He’s been telling a story directly related to the bookends and not clear enough about the important connections throughout.
B
CREDITS
On Basilisk Station, Part Five; writer, Matt Hawkins; artists, Sang-Il Jeong and Linda Sejic; letterer, Troy Peteri; editor, Besty Gonia; publisher, Top Cow Productions.
Hawkins is one cruel writer. Until now, he’s always done an excellent job making Tales of Honor an engaging read, but this issue he works out comic book action tension better than maybe anyone ever has before. He makes the comic a page turner, using long expository paragraphs to pace the reader’s attention.
Hawkins does such a good job with the pacing–the way he’s able to split the story off into scenes with auxiliary characters and have his protagonist narrate from her side makes Tales of Honor something special. Only this time Hawkins doesn’t have a natural stopping point; he goes for a hard cliffhanger but it’s got to do with a mission, not the commander or the speaking cast.
Something about Hawkins's presentation of facts–the way he uses his protagonist to narrate her past from her present, it makes Tales of Honor very palatable. There are a lot of absurd details, like how the protagonist has the psychic cat who she keeps with her. And takes with her on diplomatic meetings.
I have one quibble with Tales of Honor is how Jung-Geun Yoon draws the wildlife. Yoon’s sequential art is very stylized, digital painting, which works great for space battles and not too bad for the people. The conversations are mostly in medium shots so no too static faces delivering dialogue. But the protagonist has a pet cat (it’s not just a pet, it’s a soul-bonded thing but who cares) and Yoon can’t draw that cat. It looks like an Egyptian statue.