Tag: Horacio Domingues

Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Jekyll and Hyde (2010) #1

Vud

I’m sure I made the compliant during the first series (multiple times), but… really… who thinks Horacio Domingues is a good fit for Victorian Undead? I’ll get past the fact his “inks” appear to be nothing more than darkened pencils (and maybe some cleaning in Photoshop) and get right to his idiotic renditions of Holmes and Watson? It looks like he’s trying to turn them into Disney cartoon characters. Didn’t anyone tell him he’s at the wrong company?

Holmes looks like an action hero, Watson looks like his friendly old dad. It’s awful.

So in some ways, having Ian Edginton turn in this excellent script incorporating Jekyll and Hyde into the series’s continuity is a bad thing. It’s unpleasant to read, because some of the time is spent imagining the script drawn well and what a fine comic to would be.

Still, it’s well-written, just an atrocious visual experience.

Fantastic Four: True Story (2008) #4

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And it’s a happy ending for everyone not looking at Domingues’s art.

Seriously, it’s really bad.

But the final issue has a lot of charm–even if the ending is too short and Cornell wastes the cast of The Wind and the Willows. Having Toad run around with Johnny Storm seems somehow perfect and Cornell only hints at it.

Cornell’s rules for the story and its logic are pretty loose (I think Reed refers to it as the “fictoverse,” but only one time… as someone noticed how stupid it sounds). It all comes together nicely so the issue can end with a bow on it.

The problem with True Story is how unimportant the Fantastic Four are to the story–it could be anyone having this adventure in the… groan… fictoverse. It might even be better with other characters.

And with the Domingues art, it’s too ugly to be precious.

Fantastic Four: True Story (2008) #3

Ffts03

The third issue has some very weak moments–oh, the Austen characters are from Sense and Sensibility–but it ends with the Fantastic Four all dead, shot by firing squad.

Along with the little kid from Sense and Sensibility. So Cornell gets some respect for shooting a little kid. Even if it’s not shown on panel (Domingues would just screw it up anyway).

Cornell reveals the villain to be Nightmare, who through some complicated sounding way is all of a sudden able to invade fiction. What’s idiotic about this detail is the timing. Cornell ties it to a particular book being written. Only… no one’s done it until now? No one’s ever written about the conceptual idea of the character Nightmare (who gives people nightmares) until now? Given the intelligence Cornell writes with (most of the time, at least, excepting his scenes between Sue and Reed), it’s a tad contrived.

Fantastic Four: True Story (2008) #2

Ffts02

Well, if it weren’t for Domingues, Cornell might really have something this issue.

Cornell tasks Domingues with drawing various literary figures and he comes up with something out of a “Scooby Doo” cartoon. The artwork here does not cut it–Marvel should be embarrassed. Domingues’s style is unfinished (they should have given him an experienced inker at the least) and almost entirely thoughtless. True Story, this issue shows, needs a visual tone. Domingues can’t bring it.

This issue excels past the first (it’ll probably be the best issue of the series, given the events) as Cornell starts teaming the Fantastic Four with the heroes of Pride and Prejudice. At least, I think it’s Pride and Prejudice, it’s an Austen novel for sure. But it lets Cornell be funny–he’s got a great sense of humor (Dante bickering with an Austen hero).

The end has issues, but it’s a fun read.

Fantastic Four: True Story (2008) #1

Ffts01

I really wanted to love Fantastic Four: True Story, but Cornell just isn’t able to make it precious enough. The concept is somewhat complex–Sue is suffering from melancholy and discovers it has to do with not wanting to read fiction. It turns out the whole world is suffering from a similar melancholy (a major problem with the narrative is Reed “discovering” that universal ailment–someone else would have noticed first).

So the Fantastic Four journey into fiction to find out the problem.

Cornell does a great job with Johnny and Ben–he even abbreviates their bickering, which only lasts a page, but is a fine approach to what otherwise would have been something familiar.

It’s Sue and Reed who come off wrong. Cornell has them blathering to each other like they’re out of a romance novel.

Plus, Domingues’s art fails. He doesn’t do either element–superhero or magical–well.

Fantastic Four: True Story 4 (January 2009)

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And it’s a happy ending for everyone not looking at Domingues’s art.

Seriously, it’s really bad.

But the final issue has a lot of charm–even if the ending is too short and Cornell wastes the cast of The Wind and the Willows. Having Toad run around with Johnny Storm seems somehow perfect and Cornell only hints at it.

Cornell’s rules for the story and its logic are pretty loose (I think Reed refers to it as the “fictoverse,” but only one time… as someone noticed how stupid it sounds). It all comes together nicely so the issue can end with a bow on it.

The problem with True Story is how unimportant the Fantastic Four are to the story–it could be anyone having this adventure in the… groan… fictoverse. It might even be better with other characters.

And with the Domingues art, it’s too ugly to be precious.

CREDITS

Johnny Storm Saves Books; writer, Paul Cornell; artists, Horacio Domingues and Rick Burchett; colorist, Nestor Pereyra; letterer, Dave Lanphear; editor, Tom Brevoort; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Fantastic Four: True Story 3 (November 2008)

521259.jpg
The third issue has some very weak moments–oh, the Austen characters are from Sense and Sensibility–but it ends with the Fantastic Four all dead, shot by firing squad.

Along with the little kid from Sense and Sensibility. So Cornell gets some respect for shooting a little kid. Even if it’s not shown on panel (Domingues would just screw it up anyway).

Cornell reveals the villain to be Nightmare, who through some complicated sounding way is all of a sudden able to invade fiction. What’s idiotic about this detail is the timing. Cornell ties it to a particular book being written. Only… no one’s done it until now? No one’s ever written about the conceptual idea of the character Nightmare (who gives people nightmares) until now? Given the intelligence Cornell writes with (most of the time, at least, excepting his scenes between Sue and Reed), it’s a tad contrived.

CREDITS

Total Nightmare; writer, Paul Cornell; artist, Horacio Domingues; colorists, Nestor Pereyra and A. Dalhouse; letterer, Dave Lanphear; editor, Tom Brevoort; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Fantastic Four: True Story 2 (October 2008)

521258.jpg
Well, if it weren’t for Domingues, Cornell might really have something this issue.

Cornell tasks Domingues with drawing various literary figures and he comes up with something out of a “Scooby Doo” cartoon. The artwork here does not cut it–Marvel should be embarrassed. Domingues’s style is unfinished (they should have given him an experienced inker at the least) and almost entirely thoughtless. True Story, this issue shows, needs a visual tone. Domingues can’t bring it.

This issue excels past the first (it’ll probably be the best issue of the series, given the events) as Cornell starts teaming the Fantastic Four with the heroes of Pride and Prejudice. At least, I think it’s Pride and Prejudice, it’s an Austen novel for sure. But it lets Cornell be funny–he’s got a great sense of humor (Dante bickering with an Austen hero).

The end has issues, but it’s a fun read.

CREDITS

Grimm’s Fairy Tales; writer, Paul Cornell; artist, Horacio Domingues; colorist, Nestor Pereyra; letterer, Dave Lanphear; editor, Tom Brevoort; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Fantastic Four: True Story 1 (September 2008)

521257.jpg
I really wanted to love Fantastic Four: True Story, but Cornell just isn’t able to make it precious enough. The concept is somewhat complex–Sue is suffering from melancholy and discovers it has to do with not wanting to read fiction. It turns out the whole world is suffering from a similar melancholy (a major problem with the narrative is Reed “discovering” that universal ailment–someone else would have noticed first).

So the Fantastic Four journey into fiction to find out the problem.

Cornell does a great job with Johnny and Ben–he even abbreviates their bickering, which only lasts a page, but is a fine approach to what otherwise would have been something familiar.

It’s Sue and Reed who come off wrong. Cornell has them blathering to each other like they’re out of a romance novel.

Plus, Domingues’s art fails. He doesn’t do either element–superhero or magical–well.

CREDITS

The Melancholy of Susan Richards; writer, Paul Cornell; artist and colorist, Horacio Domingues; letterer, Dave Lanphear; editor, Tom Brevoort; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Incorruptible (2009) #5

Ic5

It’s a question of competence. Incorruptible is incompetent.

Finally someone realized Jean Diaz was making the bad book already worse and brought in Horacio Domingues, who’s much less “realistic” and a lot more cartoon-influenced and, well, at least it’s fun. Domingues’s artwork doesn’t fit the script at all and it’s just a great time, at least for the first half, because it’s all bright and giddy–it’s like a Spirit homage almost. Until halfway, I thought Waid and Boom! realized what a turd they were printing and they’d decided to do something good with it.

No luck.

It’s actually an attempt at a serious comic too–but it’s just so silly. The world’s a different place with the Plutonian on a rampage, but cellphones still work for comic relief and Max Damage still has his awesome suburban house hideout.

I’m actually really bummed they aren’t going the spoof direction.