SCARLET #5

Review by: Neb

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496
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Avg Rating: 4.0
 
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Story by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev
Cover by Alex Maleev

Size: pages
Price: 3.95

Am I the only feeling ho-hum about this title?  After the stellar beginning in the first issue, I’ve found myself losing interest in the title pretty quickly.  It’s like the book started with a big slap in the face, and now, it’s spent the last four issues simply beating around the ramifications of what’s happening.  It’s almost as if this issue should have been issue 2 or 3 instead of issue 5.  I find that the characters are interesting, but I’m not finding a connection that makes me care about them.  Even Scarlet, who slammed into our lives by killing a police officer in the first issue, has seemed mopey and withdrawn the last few issues.  I get that Bendis is painting a picture of a girl trying to figure out how to be a “political messiah” but the strong willed, confident character from issue #1 has disappeared somewhere.  What I also found disappointing is Maleev’s art in this issue.  It seems…lazy.  God, I hate to write that, as it’s overly critical and mean, but it looks like he’s simply taking the digital photo he uses for reference and adding effects to it.  The images in the book are absolutely lifeless, and the muted color palette, while tonally appropriate, does little to bring it to life.  The only drawing that really seems to happen is with characters that he doesn’t have reference for, but those are overly sketchy, saturated with dark colors, and lack any sort of detail or life.  Most are just simple shapes with faces.  This book just looks boring.  The storytelling is, of course, well done, but I found myself just flipping through the book with little interest rather reading it with any intensity.  It’s disappointing how my feelings for the book have changed.  I loved the first couple issues, but at this point, I think I’m ready to bail and wait for trades when I hear more buzz about the book. 

Story: 2 - Average
Art: 2 - Average

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