I’m not sure I can think of another comic book as reread-unfriendly as Solomon Kane. Allie’s script is all geared for the revealing the mystery. Nothing interesting happens along the way, just the setups for the various cliffhangers.

I suppose Kane not being a particularly dynamic character has something to do with, but he’s also a lame protagonist. He’s a holier-than-thou know-it-all who doesn’t even properly identify the bad guy in the story.

He’d be more interesting as a vampire.

As for the art, Guevara starts the issue a little bit better but it quickly descends into shoddiness. He’s got multiple panels, close-ups on characters, where it’s clear the art work isn’t, first, not inked pencils and, second, not even a complete drawing.

It looks like Dark Horse was trying to find the poverty row Cary Nord.

They succeeded.

Gravity alone moves the book.

CREDITS

Writer, Scott Allie; artist, Mario Guevara; colorist, Dave Stewart; letterer, Richard Starkings; editors, Patrick Thorpe, Randy Stradley and Philip R. Simon; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.

I’ve read Solomon Kane before, but wanted to reacquaint myself before reading its sequel (I’ve also since seen the movie, which I have an affection for).

I remember the series goes downhill. Or it goes uphill.

I guess I don’t remember it very well.

I did remember the Mario Guevara artwork pretty well… how it looks like Guevara turned in his pencils and they colored those. They didn’t even up the contrast to fake inking.

It’s a mildly interesting book–oh, wait, now I remember. I thought it was going to be an “old, dark house” story and it doesn’t turn out to be one. There’s a lot of drama, a lot of angst for almost everyone but Kane, who Allie writes as inhuman. The pale coloring only makes him seem more like a zombie.

I think the first time I read it I thought he was a vampire, actually.

CREDITS

Writer, Scott Allie; artist, Mario Guevara; colorist, Dave Stewart; letterer, Richard Starkings; editors, Patrick Thorpe, Ryan Jorgensen, Randy Stradley and Philip R. Simon; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.