Comic Review - Crossed Badlands #16

            There are a few comics in the Crossed universe, and lucky for us, one of them came out this week.  Really, what would a monster/zombie themed month of comic reviews be without including at least one Crossed title?  That being said, this week I am taking a look at Crossed Badlands #16 by David Hine (writer), Eduardo Vienna (pencils) and Nelson Pereira (inks).

Cover:

            The cover (by Raulo Caceras) itself does not have anything to do with the story, but it does give a clue as to what the book will be like.  This book will apparently be full of sex and violence, most of it ridiculous and over the top.  It will be reasonably well drawn (as the cover is) but will lean towards the silly in terms of its subject matter and shock value. 

            The art is good, not anything special, but well executed in terms of the lineart.  The little nuances that they throw in to the art brings it from morbid and creepy to cheesy, however.  Writing “to hell” in blood on the front of the oncoming train, one of the train numbers being “69”, that kind of stuff is high-school level thinking.  That’s what kids doodle in the back of their notebooks next to poorly drawn representations of “Spawn”, not something that employers should be paying good money for.

The color on the cover is ok, but incredibly dark for a cover that should be trying to grab your attention on the shelf. 

“But it’s on a subway train underground, it has to be dark.”

In that case, change the setting or find some way to make things less muddy.  It’s a pretty simple fix to ensure that your product is seen.  Hell, the logo is a darker red that, even with the black outline around it, still blends into the background. 

3/10 – This is decent cover done in by cheese and poor coloring choices. 

Story:

            In the story itself, not a whole hell of a lot happens.  But it does at least tell the people reading it about the epidemic.  This is somewhat like a zombie plague, except the “crossed” are more mobile and less brain dead than regular zombies.  Sure, they are still driven by carnal desire, but they can actually express what they want, or want to do to you.  Gone are the monotone groans for brains, and in its place is a guy laying on the ground asking someone to “fuck him in the face”.  Seriously, that happened. 

           

            Whether you like this amount of sex and violence or not (and honestly I was kind of surprised by the amount of sex in there) you have to admit that at least the whole zombie pandemic trope has been turned on its head right?  Wrong.  Although I am not well versed in the Crossed universe, from reading this issue it seems as though the idea for making the infected more mobile and vocal had more to do with the ability to be incredibly vulgar than to actually drive the story along.  It is this kind of “shock value writing” that drove me away from the likes of Mark Millar and most mainstream comics in general.  Writing something that is shocking should not take the place of good writing, and in too many places here it does just that. 

            That being said, there are still a few bright spots.  Hine, even in issue sixteen does a decent job of not only telling us how the plague started, but also how it spreads, giving us the basics so we know about the universe.  He doesn’t do a great job introducing all the characters, but the one that he does, Welles (who isn’t actually named until much later in the book) gets an extensive origin story.  The comic does move right along at a decent pace, but it was not a page-turner by any means.

4/10 – If over the top sex and violence for the sake of sex and violence is your thing, you will love this.  I would have liked a little more substance, or at least an explanation as to why things were happening.  The big orgy at the end of the book, for example, I get that the guy was getting back to a more primitive way of thinking when people just had sex for the sake of having sex, because he stated that openly, but what does that have to do with anything?

Art:

            Vienna’s art is decent.  It is no where near as expressive or effective in telling a story as Adlard’s (from last week’s Walking Dead review) but it does its job.  He does a decent job with the subject matter, especially the reactions and facial expressions that he gives to not only the crossed, but the normal people effected by them.  The art itself definitely feels plain though.  Maybe it is the lack of hatching or blacks throughout the art, or the generic look of the people, I’m not sure.  Everything is fairly technically precise though and his backgrounds are there in abundance, which is always a great sign. 

4/10 – The art is ok, but aside from the facial expressions, it lacks personality as a whole. 

Overall: 4/10 – I expected violence, hell just looking at covers for Avatar Comics in general I would expect that.  The amount of sex and the sensationalized “shock” storytelling was unexpected and unfortunate.  The inability to get me to care about any of the characters involved is also a shame.  

Comic Review - Ferals #8

            The first thing that I would like to mention about Ferals by David Lapham and Gabriel Andrade is that the quality of the book just in terms of the paper is something that I do not mind paying $3.99 for.  This is a hearty book printed on high quality paper, and considering that it goes for the same price as many of the comics from the “Big Two” that are printed on inferior paper, I feel like I got a bit of a bargain here.

            Oh wait, you didn’t want to hear me talk about paper quality for an entire post?  Fair enough.  On to the actual content review.

Cover:

            For a subject matter like werewolves that are obviously ground more in fantasy than reality, Andrade does a great job of making sure that everything looks as real as possible.  This starts with the cover which is a mash up of a male (I’m assuming it’s the main character) a female (which I incorrectly assumed was the female lead) and a werewolf that looks about as close to an amalgamation of man and wolf as I think I have ever seen.  The detail in the art is well done and realistic and while it does not look like the cover has much to do with the interior, it is still nicely put together with the design elements pulling you toward the naked, bloody woman at the bottom (as if you needed any help). 

            There are only a couple issues with the cover.  Everything is fairly dark except the highlights on the aforementioned naked lady.  This is fine, I get it, it’s a horror book and it would just feel out of place to color it as if it was Adventure Time.  However the dark burgundy of the logo does tend to get lost amidst the rest of the cover.  This could have been easily fixed by a lighter stroke or drop-shadow, or by the simple act of choosing a different, lighter color for the logo.  The naked woman on the cover, that I initially thought was a pertinent character, appears to be just a random individual, which makes little sense considering the number of characters they could have put in that role.  Also, just from an artistic standpoint, the woman’s head looks a little on the large side.  It may be the angle that she is reclined at but it just seems off a bit, and only a little bit at most.

7/10 – A decent illustration but not necessarily a great cover.

Story:

            For someone that got their start with Jim Shooter, Lapham definitely deviates from some of the basics of story that Shooter adhered to and mandated during his run as big cheese at Marvel/Valiant/Defiant.  The main problem was the fact that Lapham obviously assumed that anyone that was going to pick up issue eight of the series was also going to pick up the previous seven issues.  Something as simple as the names of the main male and female characters is not readily available to us as readers.  Names are also thrown around that may have some kind of significance if the previous seven issues have been read, but without any context they mean absolutely nothing to me.  Am I supposed to care what the woman (who we do not learn the name of until five pages from the end) is doing?  Or the man for that matter.  I am not given a reason to give a shit about any of these characters. 

The art is nice but this may be the most confused I have ever been while reading a comic

            The opening scene feels like it would belong great in a movie as we close up on what I can only assume is a guy that is turning into a werewolf on the run and he is chasing down a woman that looks a lot like the main female character, and then we cut to her getting bent over a kitchen counter by the male protagonist.  Was that first part a dream?  Was it not her but just someone that looked like her (on purpose or on accident)?

            Of course then we are treated to this gem of an exchange of dialogue:

           

“I’m going out”

            “When will you be back?”

            “When I’m back.  Unless they kill me.  Then never.  What are you going to do?”

            “I might go to the market.”

            Yup.  That just happened.  I almost put the book down right there but since it was only the fifth page I figured I might as well get my money’s worth. 

            Now don’t get me wrong, Lapham does some good things here too.  The scene where the female protagonist is assaulted in the parking lot because she looks like a woman’s husband’s mistress and is only cleared of those charges because the woman does not smell her husband on her (it’s weird and complicated, I know) raises the question of who the actual animals are.  It’s by no means subtle, but it is effective.  When the main male protagonist is forced to hunt, virtually naked, out in the wilderness by two men at gunpoint (no idea why) he comes into contact with the real hunters, the werewolves and the reveal of a bus of decapitated schoolchildren, that was referenced earlier in the story does a decent job of tying up that plotline. 

3/10 – There are just too many what the fuck/who the fuck moments to outweigh any good moments that are plopped here and there in the book.  Yet another example of a book that would probably be better when it gets collected into a trade paperback.

Art:

            All of the positives about the cover apply to the interiors as well.  Andrade does a great job of illustrating a normal, rather mundane environment (for about ¾ of the book at least).  He obviously excels when allowed to cut loose and draw the werewolves but the small things, the detailed backgrounds, the realism that he brings to the characters, is what I enjoy most about his work on this issue.  Sure there are a couple things here and there that look a little off, an anatomy headscratcher here and there, but he does so well in illustrating multiple environments and situations that I can definitely give him a pass on a small snafu here and there. 

            The way that the violence is handled is actually very well done and understated, even though there is a school bus full of decapitated children it does not feel as over the top as it probably could have been.  That restraint actually makes me enjoy the art more.  It proves to me that Andrade is working on telling the story instead of just drawing cool pictures to shock the readers.   It must also be stated that while the coloring, by Digikore Studios does little to evoke any kind of mood, it is successful in that it does not oversaturate the page and works very well with the lineart, both providing a clean, clear reading experience.

I love how Andrade sets the story without much dialogue or exposition.  Well done.

And then to the forest which he is able to draw with just as much effectiveness.

And back to a more civilized setting.  It should be noted that this page (about 5 away from the end, is when we first learn the blond's name).

School bus of death!  

9/10 – Really solid artwork from all parties involved.  The last page does a great job of filling the reader with a sense of dread (though the back tattoo on the male protagonist is lame).

Overall – 5/10: The story is good but the writing is terrible (that makes sense right?) and it is only saved from the trash heap by stellar artwork.  I may pick this up in trade based on the art, and the fact that, well, who doesn’t like a good werewolf story.  I just may steer clear of actually reading the dialogue though.