Every now and again it is good to have given someone the benefit of the doubt. We often tell people that you should give a writer two, if not three, issues to lay the exposition to a story. Many times this does not result in a ramp up, but rather an off ramp. This week I am happy to say that having given the writer (Cliff Chiang) room to fix a story resulted in my willingness to read another issue. Catwoman Lonely City #2 built up the plot, supporting cast and corrected a few things I disagreed with in issue #1.
- Catwoman Lonely City #2
- The Me You Love In The Dark #1
- Nice House on the Lake #3
- King of Spies #2
- Amazing Spider-man #67 Chameleon Conspiracy part 1
- Amazing Spider-man #68 Chameleon Conspiracy part 2
- Amazing Spider-man #69 Chameleon Conspiracy part 3
- Amazing Spider-man Chameleon Conspiracy Giant Size
- Ghost Cage #1
- Break Out #1
Every now and again a comic is released that gets my attention from both the love of art side and the developed character side of the comic medium. In The Me You Love In The Dark #1 a young artist’s breakout talent has overwhelmed her with popularity, driving her into a desperate need for seclusion. We’re all familiar with the concept of a starving artist, and know about the need to create work that will draw attention. What happens after that? Fame, parties, and the expectation that the young artist has an endless supply of work that will be equally as good. This artist retreats to a haunted house to try and find the next piece of art that might meet that pending expectation. Inspiration is drawn from the house, which quickly becomes a focus on internal stress given life as verbal disbelief in the house’s reputation. It will be interesting to see “the real ghost” in the story. Is it really the house or a projection of the artist’s self esteem, given form? Middlewest smashed together with Strange Academy, how can we not read this?
I am going to add an “on the fence” item here. Some of you have asked how I felt about Ghost Cage. I recommend this with a degree of caution. Tokyo Ghost people, go for it, but other than that, this one takes some focus. Video game progression levels, technical help desk meets mad scientist all rolled into one. The visual of the “creation” is difficult to follow as its form changes and the lack of color makes it a little challenging to keep track of. The team should have used overlaid color panels to show communication between the characters. It might help the reader keep track better. Think of these as a narrator in a game popping in to add dialog or a clue. They pop in, but are obviously colored differently for identification to make it easier for the player (or reader). This one will suffer in sales because of too much black and white. The effort required to keep track of what’s going on clashes with our desire for escapism, and might cause some to move away from issue #2.