Reading Deadenders is watching Brubaker’s development as a writer. At least one hopes he’s developing and learning from the mistakes. For example, if you’re going to write an ongoing comic book, it’s not a good idea to imply a protagonist’s death (by flashing forward ten years into the future) because why should a reader stick […]
MoreBrubaker runs into a big problem this issue; I’m a little surprised, because it’s an obvious one. His backup episode, about one of the characters crushing on a guy, is far more effective than his lead story. The lead story is following a plot, it’s increasing tension, it’s got a decent cliffhanger, but it feels […]
MoreBrubaker does a nice move starting out this new arc. He sets the action ahead about a month from the last issue. The reader hears, from the characters, about the time between, but it doesn’t sound like much interesting happens. So the inciting incident for this arc is Beezer’s pissed off dealer boss finally getting […]
MoreI think this issue finishes Deadenders‘s first arc. Brubaker sends it off on a high point, but only because he finishes the issue with a short Archie-style story. The rest of the issue is a mess. He follows a government scientist who interviews Beezer. Now, nothing happens in the story–we even miss the one interesting […]
MoreBrubaker outdoes himself this issue. He achieves a startling moments of emotion, which isn’t easy to do in a comic book, but he does it here. Obviously, Pleece and Case have a lot to do with it… but it’s Brubaker. He brings home a great moment. That great moment comes after a rather mediocre first […]
MoreBrubaker works three points of view into this issue. He opens with Beezer’s girlfriend, Sophie, who’s writing in her journal about the issue’s events so she’s supposedly the primary. But Beezer runs off and he’s the protagonist for a while. Then Beezer disappears for a bit and the story shifts to an omnipotent third person. […]
MoreEd Brubaker opens the first Deadenders issue rather predictably. Sure, the details about the future world are a different (a little) from other dystopian future worlds, but there’s nothing glaringly original. Two rich bad guys are talking about the fate of a teenager out in one of the rough sectors. Then Brubaker moves to the […]
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