Comic Review: Hell Yeah #6

            As a general rule of thumb, I like to stay away from comics that have vulgarity in their title (not that hell is really vulgar, but it’s not something you can say in school – and don’t say “what about Hellboy?” that’s different).  I see that as shock value to sell a comic and really don’t want a part of it (see Kick Ass).  Unfortunately pickings were slim this week.  The only other comics I picked up were Mars Attacks Transformers (which was awesome) and Borderlands Origins #3 (which was boring and uninspired, much like the rest of the series).  So I had to pick something up, and I settled for Hell Yeah.  I figured it would either be shock value schlock and I would get to eviscerate it, or it would be a comic adaptation of the metal band Hell Yeah (I kind of doubted the latter, but you never know).

Cover:

            The cover is actually really well done.  The stark white of the logo really pops from the dark background and the fact that the logo is partially obscured just helps to reinforce its proper placement.  I love the texture and the painted look to the cover as well.  While it may look kind of generic at first, a superhero (I’m assuming) with his face bloodied, it is actually taken from a part of the book.  If nothing else it gets me to wonder what bloodied his face, and what kind of superhero this guy is if he’s knocked out with a (probably) broken nose.  That’s the main job of the cover right?  To make you want to look inside?  Mission accomplished Ricken (the artist), well done.  The fact that it also includes text, and not those stupid banners for the next Warner Brothers movie, or telling you about the upcoming Marvel event, that stands out without being obtrusive shows a nice understanding of design. 

8/10 – Good linework complemented nicely by a painterly technique on the colors makes for a beautiful piece of work to look at.  It actually makes for a great cover too because of the additions of the text in a way that completes the piece instead of detracting from it.

Story:

            The recap page said that the pertinent information from the first story arc would be revealed within this issue.  I obviously didn’t read the previous five issues so I am not sure if that is 100% true or not, but this issue does a decent job of recapping who the main character is and what he does.  It honestly feels like a first issue instead of issue six, which is a great thing in terms of storytelling in my opinion because this was MY first issue, and I am firmly in the mindset that every issue is someone’s first.  How writer Joe Keatinge handles the second or third chapter in this story arc would probably tell more about his writing style in that respect than this first issue though.  While this issue does a decent job of setting things up for further issues down the line, it just feels pretty boring on its own.  Even the fight toward the end of the issue is kind of quick and boring.  I understand the necessity of the setup, even the slow burn in this story arc centric comic book landscape, but each issue should be entertaining enough to make you want to continue to read the series. 

            This story provides the making of a decent mystery, but really there isn’t much that will keep me coming back for more.  Believe me, the concept is interesting, the clean up guy that comes in after the “real” superheroes duke it out to take care of any extraneous messes.  I like that; it’s a fresh take on the genre that is probably better in trade than in individual issues.  The best part is that it doesn’t fall into the same Kick Ass style rut of sensationalizing anything or creating big moments for the sake of creating big moments.  In fact, aside from one naked woman, this book goes the other way.  Not a lot of big drama, not a lot of sensationalism.  It just kind of…is.  I have a feeling it will ramp things up in subsequent issues, probably as soon as issue seven, but it has not reeled me in effectively enough that I want to see where this goes. 

3/10 – As I said.  The groundwork is there for something very interesting and entertaining, but it definitely seems like the kind of story that you need to read in trade as the first issue doesn’t really have anything to pull me in.  Sure it escalates the mystery and leaves me with questions I would like answered by the end, but it was honestly a struggle to get there and I almost put the book down multiple times before that because it was pretty boring.

Art:

            Much like the story, the art by Andre Szymanowicz seems devoid of action.  That’s not to say that there aren’t action sequences, just that everything is so flat and stiff, especially in the first half of the book.  The best way to balance out pages and pages of not much going on would be for the artwork to be stellar.  I’m not saying that you would need a superstar to carry a painfully slow script (though it has worked from Brian Bendis) but something that would keep me turning the pages would definitely help.  The backgrounds are nice but the figures are not only stiff but have some wonky anatomy as well. 

That arm looks a little funny to me, and it gets worse in the big panel on that page but I can't show that because of the boobie-factor. 

This is more for the text than the art. "Working for you guys for about a while now" looks like someone forgot to proofread.

I like the robot lady character design but the way she is hitting him with the hammer in the last panel doesn't come off as really realistic both in terms of how she's holding the hammer and how her body is positioned.

This whole page is one big example of the static, boring character poses that are an epidemic in this book.  Plus the text boxes look like they have been thrown in there as an afterthought.

3/10 – Unfortunately the quality of the interiors don’t live up to the cover. 

Overall:  4/10 – I have higher hopes for the story than I do for the art, but it is still something that I would only approach in a trade paperback format.  Even then, throwing $15-$20 down for it may be a little too much based on what I’ve seen so far.

            Through all this, I am still left wondering why it is called Hell Yeah.  Seriously.  There is nothing in it that would explain the title in the least.  Being vague is one thing but having a title that doesn’t appear to mean anything is another matter entirely.  If anyone knows, or if it was revealed in the first story arc let me know, I’m genuinely curious.