It’s an intense issue. Cates has a nice way of foreshadowing–Redneck, with one exception, is basically a one-set play here, and Cates positions characters throughout the set and the present action in sublime ways. Estherren stumbles a few times. He doesn’t do well with the arguing scenes, like he’s getting bored of the talking heads, but it’s mostly good art. Cates handles reveals nicely too.
It’s an intense issue. Cates has a nice way of foreshadowing–Redneck, with one exception, is basically a one-set play here, and Cates positions characters throughout the set and the present action in sublime ways. Estherren stumbles a few times. He doesn’t do well with the arguing scenes, like he’s getting bored of the talking heads, but it’s mostly good art. Cates handles reveals nicely too.
CREDITS
Writer, Donny Cates; artist, Lisandro Estherren; colorist, Dee Cunniffe; letterer, Joe Sabino; editors, Arielle Basich and Jon Moisan; publisher, Image Comics.
Texican Gothic with vampires. Donny Cates does this drawling narration for the book, which has a family of rural Texas vampires trying to get by. Some have Jesus, some don’t. One of them might have turned into Nosferatu but with wings. Vampires can get drunk on paint thinner, which is a neat detail. It’s a lot of action, a lot of immediate character introduction. Cates does well with the exposition–the drawl means he can hide a fair amount just in there–and Lisandro Estherren’s art is solid. Redneck starts strong.
Texican Gothic with vampires. Donny Cates does this drawling narration for the book, which has a family of rural Texas vampires trying to get by. Some have Jesus, some don’t. One of them might have turned into Nosferatu but with wings. Vampires can get drunk on paint thinner, which is a neat detail. It’s a lot of action, a lot of immediate character introduction. Cates does well with the exposition–the drawl means he can hide a fair amount just in there–and Lisandro Estherren’s art is solid. Redneck starts strong.
CREDITS
Writer, Donny Cates; artist, Lisandro Estherren; colorist, Dee Cunniffe; letterer, Joe Sabino; editors, Arielle Basich and Jon Moisan; publisher, Image Comics.
I kind of like Geoff Shaw’s art. He doesn’t do any action in the first issue of Buzzkill, just hints of it and a lot of talking, but I do kind of like it. It’s that hurried, lots of lines indie thing. It’s popular right now and would work a lot better if Donny Cates’s script had better pacing.
Buzzkill is about the gimmick. Imagine Superman gets his powers from drugs and alcohol. He has to be drunk or high to get them–and he’s got all the regular side effects of being drunk and high. So not much of a superpower, right?
The protagonist–Cates cutely hides his real name (and draws attention to his cuteness)–goes to an AA meeting. Of course he doesn’t tell them everything, so there’s a quick cut to non-action action from Shaw.
Cates’s script is lame, obvious, somewhat pretentious.
It’s bad stuff.
CREDITS
The Problem; writers, Mark Reznicek and Donny Cates; artist, Geoff Shaw; colorist, Lauren Affe; editors, Everett Patterson and Patrick Thorpe; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.