H2O ONE-SHOT

Review by: lifesend

What did the
iFanboy
community think?

20
Pulls
Avg Rating: 3.3
 
Users who pulled this comic:
Users who reviewed this comic:
Writer: GRANT CALOF
Art: JEEVAN J. KANG & LIQUID COMICS
Covers: JEEVAN J. KANG

Size: 72 pages
Price: 6.99

SYNOPSIS

H20 is the latest original graphic novel (64 pages) from Liquid Comics and Dynamite Entertainment, a sci-fi adventure tale set in 23rd century Earth, where all the nations in the world are on the brink of collapse due to a lack of water on the planet. The book opens up with a series of pages chronicling “the great draught”, with clean and vibrant illustrations of baron landscapes and toppled cities. We learn that an attempt by a scientist to create rain not only fails, but creates worse conditions for the planet by destroying the evaporation cycle. Periodic radiation storms occur as an additional result, setting architecture and people ablaze, which is nicely portrayed by artist Jeevan J. Kang. The southern hemisphere is eventually abandoned and the world is divided into three nations, the North American Union (USA, Mexico, Canada), the Allied International Union (Greenland, Europe, Ukraine), and the United Socialist Republic of China (all of Asia and Russia).

This brief intro leads us to the present, when a NASA scientist discovers that there is a glacier in the Andes, buried deep beneath a volcano. He and others are sent to the site to test and capture the water, but unbeknownst to them, the USRC has been spying on them and they as well send a team to obtain the water. These two teams eventually meet and what happens afterwards you’ll have to read for yourself.

STORY

The story isn’t so great as to deserve a 5, but it has a number of good, interesting ideas that would have earned it a 4, however there were a few problems that caused me to give it a 3. Given the length of this OGN, characterization is expected to be minimal, but we do get a glimpse into some of the characters’ pasts, the majority being of the protagonist. I can accept this, but there were some actions by a couple of characters that left me wanting to know more about their motivations. There were also times when the story seemed rushed, particularly towards the end. It didn’t greatly affect my enjoyment of the story, but it is an unfortunate consequence of telling a story like this in only 64 pages. Other than these two criticisms, the story was solid and it’d be remiss not to mention that the opening pages were really well done, setting up the world and how it came to be as it is. If you like sci-fi, you may enjoy the story, but don’t expect much in terms of characterization or a smoothly flowing narrative.

ART

The art is the best part of the book, particularly shots of destroyed cities and once-oceans with destroyed, abandoned ships. All the characters have a unique look, which is always greatly appreciated. I really liked the coloring as well, especially of the scenes where radiation storms plague cities and send people and buildings up in flames. My only real problem with the art is that at times it’s a bit inconsistent, but not greatly so, and many times the acting and motion can come across as stiff. Other than that, I really enjoyed the look of the book and the cover is also really nice, with an excellent layout of New York, with really nice, ominous, yet optimistic coloring.

LETTERING

This’ll be brief, but at times the reader has to go from the far left of a panel and read a balloon, then the next balloon is at the far right of the panel, followed by another in the far left. It doesn’t exactly flow very well all the time, although it is rather clear which balloon to read next.

FINAL WORD

I recommend the book to fans of realistic Earth-based science fiction, but if you don’t fall into this category, I don’t know if you’ll enjoy the book much. It definitely starts off more strongly than it ends, but it is enjoyable throughout and when I finished I was ultimately satisfied with my purchase.

Story: 3 - Good
Art: 4 - Very Good

Comments

  1. Great review lifesend.  Your ratings are about where I’d have them.  For me, the story started so very cool but then it really turned into a schlocky adventure like you see on Sci Fi channel.  By the end, I wondered if that was the goal of the book?  It felt so sci-fi the channel.

    I hated the characters and the character interactions.  The whole race for the glacier made no sense to me??  Why were they walking everywhere?  I’ll tell you why, so they could devolve the story into this supposedly interesting clash between the two teams with their soap opera relationships to each other.  SPOILER: The ending with the son redeeming the family name as it rained made me throw up in my mouth..BARF!   Too easy. way too easy.

    BUT…you are rightabout the destroyed cities art, super super gorgeous…disaster porn!  That art, along with the intriguing premise that made the first half of the book interesting, and I suppose the high quality production of the book itself, made me not angry about purchasing the book…but it is heading toward the garbage, not my shelves, now that i finished reading it.

  2. Thanks, I’m with you, I thought the book would be a bit more meaningful and add more commentary to the social situation they set up.  I did, however, like the main character and the guy that saves the day in the end.  But yeah, none of the characters were terribly interesting and the dialogue was serviceable, but none too interesting.  I’ll keep it for now and perhaps give it away at some point in the future when I need the space.

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