What did I just read? Hogan’s back writing again and he does a decent enough job scripting, but the plotting is a disaster.
It starts okay–Tom Strong’s ex-girlfriend (from the thirties) turns out to be a cryogenically preserved ice person and he’s trying to help her. So he brings her home. One might think it would lead to all sorts of interesting scenes between his wife and the ex-girlfriend, maybe Tesla and the ex-girlfriend but no… nothing. Hogan knows he should be doing that story because he hurries through a scene between Dhalua and the ex.
Instead, he sets up some possible future story. Not an important one, because he also doesn’t show how the ex-girlfriend’s reappearance has affected Tom (other than him trying to help her); there’s simply no weight to the story. It ought to weight six tons.
The art is gorgeous but the story is insincerely executed.
B-
CREDITS
Snow Queen; writer, Peter Hogan; penciller, Chris Sprouse; inkers, Karl Story and John Dell; colorist, Dave Stewart; letterer, Todd Klein; editors, Kristy Quinn and Scott Dunbier; publisher, America’s Best Comics.
Sprouse is back for this fast-paced done-in-one with Tom, Tesla and Val on the moon helping Svetlana find her missing husband. There’s a nice opening with Telsa and Val–he’s still learning English and it’s frustrating her. Even though it’s Peter Hogan writing, he manages to continue Moore’s light comedic touch, but always with some seriousness behind the humor.
Hogan’s a show-off. He’s great, he does a great job here, but he’s a show-off. After a very tense opening, things gradually calm down and resolve. Sprouse and Story mostly do talking heads for the first third of the comic.
Tom Strange finally appears in the issue–which is good, since Hogan’s only got one left. Besides the opening, which features another new (or returning from a previous limited series) character, a lot of the issue is just the Toms talking.
This issue doesn’t really have enough content to be a full issue, except Hogan has decided he wants to do a couple serious things and they’re going to be worth the cover price.
Again with the pacing issues. There’s nothing with the government subplot, which almost makes it seem like Dark Horse okayed Hogan and Parkhouse for another limited series after this one (for Hogan to work out his b plots) and nothing with the characters either. Maybe a little with Asta. But not a lot.
It’s a really fast read. Hogan covers a whole lot and he’s not doing anything but setting up the rest of the series. It should be an okay move, but he’s already had a zero issue for Suicide Blonde, he’s already had time to introduce things.
Once again, Peter Hogan goes more towards likable than compelling with Resident Alien. He’s more concerned with his readers enjoying the time spent on the comic than making sure they’re intrigued with the plot.
I didn’t really like this one. The issue, I mean. The series is still fine. To some degree, getting the series set for a sequel didn’t help Hogan. But also not having a good conclusion to his mystery. He has Harry finishing up the investigation and then the investigation sort of blowing up in his face. There’s nothing interesting about the plot structure and the case gets boring.
Hogan does flashbacks–three of them. First to Harry arriving on Earth and outfitting himself at a mall; it’s a cute little sequence. Parkhouse drawing a mall is really entertaining for whatever reason.