Starting this issue, I felt a little bad. I only read The Wake to praise Murphy’s art and to mock Snyder’s writing. It’s definitely mock-worthy this time around too, but then he goes and does something even more amazing.

He craps on the story he is telling and then announces he’s going to tell an entirely different story. Apparently one about flying girls. So instead of ripping off The Abyss, Leviathan and whatever other underwater adventures he could… He announces he’s instead going to rip off Waterworld and post-apocalyptic stuff.

Am I spoiling the end of this issue?

No, because this issue–this storyline–isn’t the point. Murphy was just messing around.

It’s the perfect jumping off point too, because it’s clear there’s never going to be anything resembling a good narrative here.

Oh, Contact. He rips Contact off a little here too.

Anyway, crappy writing, great art.

CREDITS

Writer, Scott Snyder; artist, Sean Murphy; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Sara Miller and Mark Doyle; publisher, Vertigo.

I’m having a hard time believing it but Snyder is actually getting worse. Oh, there are less characters so the dialogue is a little better, but his ideas are dropping even faster in creativity. If it weren’t for Murphy’s style, I’d think The Wake is supposed to be a joke. Some camp-fest to laugh at all the crazy stuff Snyder can rip off from other places.

I did forgot the really, really terrible scene with the lead character lady talking about her son and how she won’t die unless she gets him HDMI cables first. I can’t believe this comic book has an editor. Not one who can read anyway.

There’s a lot of action, none of it particularly good. For a series where Murphy is the only draw, this issue doesn’t utilize him well at all. Snyder’s script is too terribly paced.

The Wake‘s not improving at all.

CREDITS

Writer, Scott Snyder; artist, Sean Murphy; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Sara Miller and Mark Doyle; publisher, Vertigo.

What a bad comic.

I mean, the art is glorious and it does make The Wake worth reading but the writing is godawful.

Snyder is back with his lame dialogue again. On and on it goes. The stuff with protagonist and her son isn’t even the worst and it’s positively dreadful. The Homeland Security guy is back to his awful catchphrases, which is an unpleasant return to say the least.

This issue reveals one of Snyder’s big problems as a writer. He’s impatient. Instead of showing the reader this deep sea rig in scenes, he does it all in expository dialogue so he can rush to the finish with a bunch of the monsters arriving. A few good scenes would have helped the pace–it reads extremely fast, especially as one wants to get away from Snyder’s dialogue–and worked towards giving the cast personalities.

It’s a terrible comic book.

CREDITS

Writer, Scott Snyder; artist, Sean Murphy; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Sara Miller and Mark Doyle; publisher, Vertigo.

If “raindrop” is really a term used in folklore studies, how does anyone take folklore studies seriously? It’s out of Michael Crichton.

Except Snyder doesn’t think dinosaurs became birds. He’s real clear on it. Science is clear on the other side of him. It immediately discounts all the pseudo-science in Wake. It and Snyder giving Homeland Security a bio weapons department.

It’s a bit of a talking heads issue. Well, talking heads and hallucinations. Snyder packs it with time killing hallucinations. The Murphy art makes up for it all to a certain point, except when Snyder’s being just too dumb.

One has to wonder of his editors do anything whatsoever. Like read the script to the comic.

There’s some more will the flash forward to the end of the planet Earth. I think we’re supposed to care but I can’t be sure.

At least Snyder’s dialogue is getting better.

CREDITS

Writer, Scott Snyder; artist, Sean Murphy; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Sara Miller and Mark Doyle; publisher, Vertigo.

So if Michael Bay is his generation’s version of Tony Scott, Scott Snyder is trying really hard to be his generations version of early Brian Michael Bendis. The cuteness in the dialogue is hilariously bad. If it weren’t for Sean Murphy’s art, one might think The Wake is supposed to be a comedy.

I could actually sit and write about the dialogue devices Snyder uses to be cute, but I won’t bother. Being cute is a small problem compared to the rest of the dialogue. He can’t write honest dialogue. He’s not just writing bad expository dialogue, he’s writing weak dialogue without any sense of his characters. Maybe his editors told him everyone has to sound different so he picked some phrases and cadences to repeat.

But there’s the art. Murphy gets to do fake super-science, general ocean life and Waterworld. Every panel, even with dumb dialogue, is glorious.

CREDITS

Writer, Scott Snyder; artist, Sean Murphy; colorist, Matt Hollingsworth; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Sara Miller and Mark Doyle; publisher, Vertigo.