June 11, 2008 4:44 am Addendum: I made the comment above without first reading the review. Now that I just read the review, I was struck by the similarities in our feelings, but we come to different conclusions. I was promised "real world," which hasn't been done before. I can get hyper-violence elsewhere.
June 11, 2008 4:40 am (note: spoilers) I'm both liking this comic and finding it annoying, at the same time. I loved how the first issue set a very true-to-life tone. I also liked the the twist of coming into herohood without a tragedy. However, having him put on the costume, without any defining event really ran the story off the rails, despite it being cleverly written. First, it lacks psychological reality. People don't just get dressed up in costumes and try crimefighting without some type of significant cause or being exceptional people whose nature it is to be a hero. Second, it lacks the moral impetus for becoming a superhero, which is the central dynamic that defines the archetype. Instead, what Millar should have done is simply happen upon a crime as it was happening and then stop it (largely bumbling in the process, but pulling it off by luck), which then shows what he's made of, gives him "his calling," and connects with a bit of psychological realism, when people in those situations say "I didn't think, I just acted." You could then pick up the plot from there, just as Millar wrote it.
The second issue was a nice twist. A very resoante and convincing story of his recovery and thoughts of what his recklessness has done to his father, but then it is undone in two pages with whiplash inducing dramatic shift. It leaves the character looking very selfish, very unsympathetic, and not at all like a hero.
The third issue, good as it is, just makes things worse. It's clear that he isn;t a superhero. He's a glory houd and wannabe in a scuba suit. Maybe Millar has something in store, that the prupsoe of what he does will finally hit home, which is what I'm hoping, but the end of the comic, with it's nine year old katana wielder, just compounds the problem. A nine year old girl would not have the strength or the dexterity to heft a blade nearly as big as she is to run a man through, disembowel another, and then slice his skull in two. Guess the "real world" premise is out the window. This comic needs to decide what it is going to be: a realistic superhero comic or a Tarantino gore-fest. Either one is fine, but you can't have both.
Find us on Facebook
Graphicly - Upload Once. Distribute Everywhere.
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
The second issue was a nice twist. A very resoante and convincing story of his recovery and thoughts of what his recklessness has done to his father, but then it is undone in two pages with whiplash inducing dramatic shift. It leaves the character looking very selfish, very unsympathetic, and not at all like a hero.
The third issue, good as it is, just makes things worse. It's clear that he isn;t a superhero. He's a glory houd and wannabe in a scuba suit. Maybe Millar has something in store, that the prupsoe of what he does will finally hit home, which is what I'm hoping, but the end of the comic, with it's nine year old katana wielder, just compounds the problem. A nine year old girl would not have the strength or the dexterity to heft a blade nearly as big as she is to run a man through, disembowel another, and then slice his skull in two. Guess the "real world" premise is out the window. This comic needs to decide what it is going to be: a realistic superhero comic or a Tarantino gore-fest. Either one is fine, but you can't have both.