Brass Sun 2 (June 2014)

Brass Sun #2 Culbard’s art continues to be a problem when it comes to people. I spent half the issue wondering about the evil old maid lady who turned out to be some guy. Worse, there’s not enough of the scenery for Culbard’s strengths to make up for his weaknesses.

But this issue of Brass Sun reveals more problems than just the art. Once again, the format–a collection of previously anthologized short pieces–is severely hampering the narrative flow. It starts and stops all throughout and, by the end of the comic, which has maybe one page in thirty-some where Edginton spends any time on character development, it’s just too thin.

The concept isn’t particularly original; it’s not steampunk because it’s too grandiose with a mechanized solar system. However to describe it, Edginton isn’t spending time in the right places–like on his protagonists.

Sun is dwindling by the end here.

CREDITS

Writer, Ian Edginton; artist, I.N.J. Culbard; letterer, Ellie De Ville; editor, Matt Smith; publisher, Rebellion.

Brass Sun 1 (May 2014)

Brass Sun #1 Brass Sun is incredibly problematic. I don’t think I’ve read such a spotty first issue in a while, particularly one where the writer–Ian Edginton–just keeps going and going until he makes the narrative connect. And it takes this issue a long time, until the last fourth.

The comic is collected from 2000 AD, which probably explains a lot of the disjointed nature of the narrative. Then there’s the art–I.N.J. Culbard’s art seems more appropriate for black and white than color. I’m pretty sure AD is still black and white.

There’s too much exposition, not enough tone, Edginton awkwardly establishes the characters–the problems go on and on and they’re very obviously the fault of the packaging. So when Edginton finally gets to something effective and it’s good, it seems really good. It redeems the issue.

The plot itself is vaguely unoriginal but I’m hoping the uptick will continue.

B-

CREDITS

Writer, Ian Edginton; artist, I.N.J. Culbard; letterer, Ellie De Ville; editor, Matt Smith; publisher, Rebellion.

Hinterkind 1 (December 2013)

3346130 $ kgrhqr o4fi5ch1ydlbsrh40ndtq~~60 57 I really don’t understand Hinterkind. Is it a spin-off of Fables or is it just highly derivative of a series from the same publisher? Oh, it’s different… it’s not fairy tales. It’s just fairy tale monsters inhabiting a future Earth after some catastrophe sets humanity on the brink. There are animals in the now reclaimed by nature New York City, for example, and little well-read teenage hunters to hunt them.

Is Warner Bros. really this desperate to compete with The Hunger Games? There’s even the girl lead with a male best friend. It’s a pitiful attempt.

Ian Edginton’s script isn’t bad, it’s just unimaginative and one rip-off after another. The bad part is the art. Francesco Trifogli can draw New York City with a bunch of trees everywhere and a settlement in Central Park, but his people are beyond lame.

And the monsters?

Don’t get me started.

CREDITS

Once Upon A Time…, Chapter One; writer, Ian Edginton; artist, Francesco Trifogli; colorist, Cris Peter; letterer, Dezi Sienty; editors, Sara Miller and Will Dennis; publisher, Vertigo.

Victorian Undead II (2011) #5

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Hmm… is Edginton subtly suggesting the next Victorian Undead series will feature Frankenstein’s Monster? I hope so.

Again, there are some needlessly weak pages, but this time I can’t blame it on anyone but Fabbri. Maybe he was rushed. It’s a shame it’s during the big finale with Dracula and Holmes.

Edginton comes up with a good plot for the conclusion—even a great reveal—but his ending is a little too pat. I suppose some of it comes from being too much a mix of Holmes and Dracula and not enough of either. Watson’s barely a character this series and Edginton, except in the first issue, hasn’t done much to make it feel like another Holmes case.

It’s still a good series, however. Even with the various art problems throughout.

I was hoping Dracula would be more interesting.

Oh, yeah; Edginton does leave his other sequel setup intact too.

Victorian Undead II (2011) #4

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Okay, it’s not Fabbri doing the terrible pages, it’s Guevara on his own. And they are terrible. He can’t maintain the shape of a human head. There are four or five of his pages this issue and it’s so bad, I wanted to put the comic down and stop reading it.

Otherwise, again, good issue. Edginton introduces something he might keep around later—he really ought to do a straight adaptation of Dracula, revising as he sees fit, because he comes up with some great developments here and they don’t necessarily need to be bound to the Victorian Undead universe. This issue, once more, has me hoping DC doesn’t let the property languish with Wildstorm gone.

Edginton has a good pace this issue, getting through a lot of events (even getting in Holmes references) to set up the cliffhanger. It’s a soft cliffhanger, sort of unnecessary, but it does work.

Victorian Undead II (2011) #3

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As ineffectual as I find Fabbri’s Saturday morning cartoon style, at least he usually works at it. This issue brings in Mario Guevara to ink him and there are some incredible mishaps. One section appears to either be without inks (in which case, it’s clear Fabbri does most of his work while inking) and it makes that scene particularly unpleasant to read. I sat wondering if Tom Mandrake had done it as a guest and then jokingly did terrible work. No, no, he did not.

Reading this issue—Holmes, Watson and the Van Helsing get together and talk about the Dracula events up until now—it suggests Edginton never read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, just saw Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He borrows film creations part and parcel.

It’s not bad, just interesting. He adds some logic to the Dracula story, which is utterly missing in Stoker’s original.

Problems aside, a decent issue.

Victorian Undead II (2011) #2

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Edginton moves the story along a lot faster than I was expecting. I imagine it’s to bring the Dracula supporting cast into it sooner; the last half of the issue is Holmes and Watson teaming up with Professor Van Helsing and company. If I thought Fabbri’s Sherlock Holmes was funny, his Van Helsing is absolutely hilarious. Maybe Wildstorm was telling him to make them look like silly movie actors in case the series gets optioned.

Fabbri also rips off the battle armor—the very distinguishable battle armor—from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, so he’s clearly seen movies. He’s just ignoring the ones with Sherlock Holmes.

The first half fires a bunch of flares. There’s some boring exposition, then Dracula and his minions and neither scene is particularly good. The Dracula one is requisite and a little better. The stuff with Holmes and the gypsies is weak.

The second half recovers though.

Victorian Undead II (2011) #1

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Let’s see… Edginton doesn’t just bring in Dracula, he also brings in zombie-hunting gypsies, a conspiracy involving the British throne involving vampires (which changes up the series being a straight Dracula adaptation) and London rebuilding. The interesting part of London rebuilding is how it was a facet of Scarlet Traces too. While the first Victorian Undead series had its problems, he’s been able to build on its resolution quite well. Hopefully the franchise survives DC scuttling Wildstorm.

Unsurprisingly, I have issues with Davide Fabbri’s artwork. Tom Mandrake’s back for a page and it’s another instance of where he should have been the artist, not a guest star. Fabbri takes his time on Victorian London, getting in some great details, but it still looks insipidly commercial overall. The choice continues to bewilder.

Edginton takes his time, splitting between foreboding and Holmes and Watson investigating. He definitely piques the reader’s curiosity.

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

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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.

Dark Horse Presents Annual (1998) 2000

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It’s the “all female” issue… without a single female creator working on the book.

The best is in the Buffy story, when they turn rape prevention into a pun.

The Buffy story is the worst–Fassbender and Pascoe’s writing is, tasteless jokes aside, awful. Their dialogue is weak as is their plotting. Richards and Pimentel’s art isn’t awful.

Motter writes an indistinct Star Wars. But Owens’s artwork on it is fabulous.

The Xena story, from Edginton, Deodato and Nelson, is probably the best. Though Deodato’s photo referencing is annoying and ineffective. Edginton writes funny dialogue and comes up with solid plot developments.

Kennedy’s Ghost story isn’t bad. Brunner’s artwork varies. He has some good panels and some weak ones. Kennedy’s able to manage a good pace with a lot of details.

The one from David and Henry–Spyboy–is amusing. It’s breezy action; David gets in a good closing joke.