Undertow 1 (February 2014)

296544 20140219112058 large I would have liked to open with the similarities between Undertow and “Battlestar Galactica” (the new one) but I can’t. Instead I need to open with writer Steve Orlando’s dialogue. He writes it with modern English slang–oh, sorry, the series is apparently about ancient Atlantean explorers coming to the surface (it could go on to be a workplace sitcom, I’ll never know).

Tackling an ancient, made-up language is never easy but combined with the bad pacing and Orlando’s terrible narration… Undertow quickly becomes intolerable. Assuming Orlando gave artist Artyom Trakhanov descriptions of each panel, the comic gets even worse. The narration isn’t over story panels, it’s over cinematic establishing shots. Orlando writes a script out of a bad Gold key comic, but doesn’t even let Trakhanov illustrate it.

Or maybe Trakhanov made that choice. It’s highly stylized art and not bad, just pointless. Much like the comic itself.

CREDITS

Messiah Ward; writer, Steve Orlando; artist and colorist, Artyom Trakhanov; letterer, Thomas Mauer; publisher, Image Comics.

Undertow (2009)

My favorite thing about Undertow–not the best thing about it, but my favorite–is Lindner’s use of setting. The graphic novel is set in the fifties or sixties in Brooklyn, with jaunts out to Coney Island, but Lindner’s nostalgia is completely in check. There’s no moon eyes over the setting (which is probably why it took me a while to realize it). It’s a refreshing change; many retro books are great, but Lindner sets Undertow apart.

Identifying the best thing about Undertow is a little difficult. The two main contenders–Lindner’s dialogue and her composition–are both excellent. I think I veer more towards the dialogue because I recognized the composition earlier. The composition is intricate and utilizes the page beautifully. It’s occasionally very wowing.

But the dialogue is different. It’s simply excellent throughout, without any particular rises. During one difficult to script exchange, I noticed how Lindner’s dialogue managed to be natural but also concise, to fit the scene. At that point, I realized the entire book’s dialogue is of the same quality–I only noticed at that point because of the difficult scene.

Lindner brings the reader into the story abruptly–there are no introductions and no hints of how the story will develop. It’s not quite slice of life because there are a couple big events, but there’s nothing particularly dramatic about Undertow‘s events.

My only complaint is one badly drawn neck line. Otherwise, Lindner creates a fantastic graphic novel in Undertow.

It’s an outstanding debut.