Review: The Massive #12

The Massive is back with issue #12. The crew of The Kapital have chased the ghost of a signal believed to be from The Massive all the way to the arctic circle.  Captain Callum and his crew have been chasing their sister ship for nearly a year since they were separated in the storm, and it’s starting to take its toll on him.  Callum’s desperate, and beginning to reach the point where he’ll do anything to find this lost ship.

In the past few issues, we’ve seen morale aboard The Kapital take some massive hits (pun intentional). They’ve lost crew members who want to defend their homelands from internal strife, and the ship’s emergency helicopter was destroyed in a crash.  And if the other members of the crew feel at all like I do, they’re tired of Mary being little miss perfect.  Even Callum is doubting himself.  Worse still, the Arctic ice threatens to trap them where they are for who knows how long (likely just this issue), with the signal from The Massive still just beyond the horizon.

While the series has recently focused on internal rather than external conflicts (see our review of Massive #10), the struggle within Callum in this issue is by far the most interesting.  I won’t go into the details as it involves spoilers, but I will say it’s a very interesting look into Callum’s past.  This issue combines the man versus self and man versus nature elements of the last two issues, making a nice end to this storyline.  The next storyline is already available for pre-order, but I’m torn right now. If issue 13 has them free from the ice that threatens them in this issue, it was too easy of an escape, but if they are still there, I don’t know what more there is to tell of the story, unless raiders try to take advantage of their situation and attack the ship.  As much as I love these internal issues, there has been very little violence lately, considering how volatile the setting is supposed to be.

Found (larger) here.

In the last review, I had a problem here and there with the art, but overall it was good.  This issue, I was not impressed with the artwork at all.  We’ve seen Kristian Donaldson, Garry Brown, Gary Erskine, and Declan Shalvey all lend their art to the last 11 issues of this series, and they’ve all been good, some of them even quite impressive (Donaldson, I love you!).  But I was pretty insulted by the art of Danijel Zezelj in this issue.  Maybe it’s just not my cup of tea, but if I had picked this up in a comic shop without any previous knowledge of the series, I wouldn’t have bought it after one look at the art, story quality aside.  I’m reminded of a collage of colored paper.  There is absolutely no shading.  He clearly didn’t have paper called “Caucasian skin”, so he went with “rotting zombie flesh green” because eh, close enough, right?  Garry Brown is back for at least the next three issues, so at least I won’t have to look at any more of it.

This comic is $3.50 as always, but I found the art so distractingly bad that I can’t in good conscience recommend it.  That, however, is just my opinion.  If the above art doesn’t bother you, enjoy, as it is a worthwhile story.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, admits that if Callum, Ryan and Lars were zombies, this series would be a whole different kind of interesting.  Lol, zombie pacifist tree huggers!  You can follow him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: House of Gold and Bones #2

Well, when I reviewed last month’s House of Gold and Bones #1, I was genuinely sad to have not enjoyed it. Corey Taylor is a talented musician for a band I really like that seemed really passionate about making a successful comic book, and the passion was all over the pages. Unfortunately, so was the constant narration, unsatisfactory art, and unending slew of questions with no satisfactory answers was also all over those pages. I was ready to write the series off as a misguided first effort, but the passion he had for the book led me to decide it was worth giving this book another shot. And man am I glad I did! Click the link to see why I found this book to be such a marked improvement over the previous issue.

When we last left our hero(?), Zero, he was being chased by a bunch of dark forces screaming, “RU486”. Throughout the issue, he must try to escape these dark forces using his cunning and strength. He also works hard trying to decipher what is going on in this strange world in which he now finds himself, while also struggling to remember how he got there in the first place. But he can’t focus on that for too long, because the dark forces will not stop coming for him.

In the last review, I spent a lot of time focusing on the negatives of the comic, mostly because they simply overpowered anything positive I had to say on it. That overwhelming narration slowed everything to a crawl, and the protagonist simply wasn’t an interesting enough character in his own right. He seemed empty, almost like he was supposed to act as an audience surrogate, which is never a good idea in comics. In this issue, though, we see him actually display character. Instead of Zero just being some guy the comic happens to follow as things happen around him, he displays actual initiative in this issue. He stands up against the dark forces despite being completely outmatched, and he makes decisions against people like Adam (hurray for Biblical allusions!). This goes a long way towards making him more likable as a character in my eyes, and I found myself rooting for him in a way I simply didn’t in the first issue.

There were three main issues I had with the last comic, and all three have been rectified here, at least to some extent. The art is the one with which I still have the most issues, but I think it’s really limited to the drawing of the protagonist and Adam, who’s being overplayed as evil so much that we actually see him in a knockoff of an SS uniform here. The problem with the human characters presented is one of facial structure. They all end up having too much forehead, and characters without facial hair look equally off on the lower half of their face. Perhaps this is a me thing, but at the very least, what was a major issue in the last comic is now merely a minor one, and it shouldn’t get in the way of you buying this comic.

The biggest issue I had was the constant narration, which completely decimated the pacing. This has been fixed almost entirely through the introduction of Peckinpah, a side character that seems to want to help Zero. Well, maybe help is the wrong word, as any time a character in a world in which no one should be trusted is portrayed as kind I immediately get suspicious, but at the very least, he wants to help Zero uncover the mysteries of the world around him. Because the story is presented in mostly dialogue instead of an overlong monologue, there’s a lot more characterization presented, and the pace picks up quite nicely, slowing just enough so the reader can grasp what’s going on without bringing everything to a crawl. The material was always well-written, but now that it’s matching the medium in which its trying to tell the story, you can honestly enjoy it.

The final problem was an overabundance of mysteries to the point of frustration. A good creepy comic keeps things tense and keeps you guessing until the very end, but it also drops hints now and then while presenting the reader with an idea of what’s going on so they’re not completely lost and confused. It’s a tough balance to walk, and the first issue was definitely too far on the latter side of things. This issue, however, was far more balanced, giving a general idea of what the upcoming conflagration is (though, spoiler alert, a dictionary search tells me it’s not going to be sunshine and rainbows) while still keeping it’s ultimate purpose and Zero’s role in all this a mystery. It gives us enough reasons to care without spoiling it all for us, and that balance makes this a very compelling comic.

As much as I enjoyed this issue, I’m going to have to give it a conditional recommendation for its $3.99 cover price because of how vastly different in quality I found this issue to be compared to the first one. I honestly think you could drop the first issue and just pick it up here if the series interests you and/or you’re a big Stone Sour fan, but I can’t unconditionally recommend this given the potential for it to go off rails again. If the next issue is as good as this one, I’ll be able to bump both to a definite recommendation. For now, I’d hold off for one more issue to see where this is going. That said, this issue is a great sign of things to come, so here’s hoping it continues down this path.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He’s really happy this issue worked out far better than the last one, and he definitely hopes this is the sign of a trend. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Counterpoint: Star Trek: Into the Darkness

According to my friend, MaristPlayBoy, Star Trek: Into Darkness is 3.5/5 stars calling it as he said to me “above average” which I can see where he is coming from because he has more experience in rating films and has seen considerably more than I have, so I trust his judgment. When my friend said it was a perfect 5 star rating, I drew the line and knew I had to make a review of it myself. To be fair, my rating of 2 stars makes the average of all three review a 3.5, thus validating my previous statement in trusting it as a rating, I just want to get in my 2 cents on why I gave the film 2 stars.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1408101/

Before you continue reading, here is what you need to know: this review will be very subjective and I may bring up points that you may not notice or even care about. If I were to try and give a completely objective review from the point of view of what I would consider to be the “average movie goer” then I would give the film more credit. Part of what I didn’t like about the film is that I felt like it was too melodramatic and I felt like the plot was being spoon fed to me. Was the film entertaining? I would objectively say yes. Did the film appeal to many emotions? Again, yes. Did I like? Not as much as I should have. Now I know there are people out there that say you can judge a science fiction film based on actual science, but here is what I have to say to you: If part of what makes a film good is the believably of it, then for me, this film was barely believable even on the scale of science fiction or the scale of Star Trek (taking into account both the series, but more importantly, the last film).

I’m going to start with what turned me off the most, which I recently found out makes a lot of people angry; being a physics major, I cannot watch a film and not point out where the science just completely and utterly breaks down. If you couldn’t give a crap about scientific accuracy, feel free to skip this bit. While I know the writers and editors could not change much of the traditional Star Trek mechanics such as warp drive causing accelerations of 10,000,000 times the acceleration of earth’s gravity and disregarding relativistic effects on time and space at those speeds, there were parts where basic physics was thrown out the window for the sake of dramatic effect. First of all, the mass off a ship in warp drive would make it such that nothing could break off or fall away just due to the amount of gravity that ship would have (more than a planet depending on the speeds) nor could they make a ship that would travel 3 times as fast as warp drive, as warp drive is already near if not at achievable limit. Granted that is both fairly high level of physics and part of the Star Trek traditional writing, so I can come to peace with that, reluctantly.

Where dramatic effect over physics really came into play is near the end. Without giving anything away, I will try to express what utter rubbish the film tried to sell me on, and horribly failed. Firstly, the effects of pressure in space was completelyignored because it would end up in more complex and near impossible measures that wouldn’t work on the time scale of the film as well as the causalities of some audience favorites. While the writing needed that to work as an enjoyable, marketable film that can be later continued, it took a fair amount of believability out of the film, whether at the time or in retrospect. I will say that this is needed for the film, and will give that to the writers.

How it should have looked falling

What really took the cake is changing gravity in free-fall. Anyone who has taken physics at a high school level and remembers anything should know the acceleratory, or “force-like”, effects of gravity do not apply to particles in free-fall. But they needed that in order to have the ever changing direction in gravity and severity of allocation and repair capabilities. Taking into the way to fix that by moving power to “stability”, in a real world situation, there would be no need for this as no power is stability, or whatever was giving them the artificial (yes it would have to have been artificial) gravitational force, and thus could be put towards anything else that could have helped the ship and crew to survive.

Additionally, the film was supposed to be primarily plot driven, and because of that, there was almost no character development, arguably none. The most character development done was in the long monologues from characters throughout the film, and giving credit where credit is due, they were well written and well performed. Needless to say, some of the melodrama surrounding those moments took away from the flow of the plot and devalued the character development as there appears to be minimal individual change from the beginning to end. The points where there is development are short lived and quickly forgotten. While the story is allowed to make some presumptions from the last film and the main plot of series, I fail to see how it could be overlooked entirely. A new character was introduced and her character was so poorly developed that I can’t say I could tell you much about her at all that was explicitly explained to me. On top of that, I argue that if she were to return that the staff did that to make the audience wanting to know more about her. In my mind, she is unjustly forgettable and I would not care if she were not to return.

While the cast is more than competent (as seen in the first film), there were points where the actors were being obnoxious in the level they portrayed their character. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and over-acting where you don’t need it felt like the film belittled my prior knowledge of the character as well as my ability to come to my own conclusion of what I thought of each character. Ultimately, I felt like the film was playing to the lowest common denominator, which I never will find entertaining as a serious work which this had the potential to be. If they focused less on being predictable, melodramatic, and at some points gimmicky, they could have improved the film significantly.

This was everywhere.

Here’s the last thing I will say, and to be honest was blissfully ignorant of after the first film and now painfully aware of: lens flare. While at some points, lens flare does add a dramatic effect (for example: in the desert to emphasize heat, or panning past the sun onto a planet) it was either overused or overlooked because it was everywhere. I wouldn’t have a problem if it didn’t take away too much from the film itself, but when it is covering a face of someone speaking, I can no longer say it doesn’t affect the film. Considering the level of production value I was expecting, I was thoroughly disappointed that the problem was so out of control to the point it made the film less enjoyable and took away from the work of the actors, special effects people, and set designers.

Overall, I give the film 2 stars, mostly subjective to be fair. It did not meet my expectations, fell short of last film, and merely perpetuated what was already set in place while simultaneously setting up the next one. The film was predictable as well as unbelievable, even amongst films under the same genre. I will say that I do not regret seeing the film, as there were moments where I really connected with what was on screen as well certain comedic and realist action scenes that were enjoyable. Similarly, I would not see this film again without reason of seeing it with someone else or something similar. I hope that with many classics made movie, the second movie is just a slump and the third movie makes the whole series. I don’t mind if you don’t agree, so long as you have reason to do so. Thank you.

Brendan McDonald, aka bigmacd101, wrote this article after heated debate post-viewing of the movie in question. He hopes that this review will help JJ Abrams make movies like he used to: good. If you would like to be around for more short rantings, follow him on twitter @bigmacd101.

AoaRD #4: Guard for a Day

Every two weeks, Baker Street Holmes tells the story of Urbal gro-Dushnikh, an orc who just wants to be a blacksmith, even though it seems Skyrim has other plans. You can follow his journey through these journal entries with new entries every two weeks. Enjoy!

Flashback     Part One     Part Two     Part Three

25th of Last Seed, 201

The Jarl’s offer turned out to be a selfish one.  He wanted someone to attack a Forsworn camp near by, that is why he offered to make me his Thane.  I told him I’d think about it.  A raid against a Forsworn camp is not a light task.  I believe he may just want me dead.  Regardless it’s not a task I could take on alone.

I set out before the sun rose yesterday morning, headed towards Falkreath and some known Corundum mines.  Walking down from the keep to Markarth’s main gate, I heard guards shouting and came upon a vampire and a couple of it’s thralls.  I saw a vampire the other morning in the wilderness, but with the city walls!  Unheard of!  I steered clear of the fight and only end up leaving town a little later than expected.

I made for Gloomreach, but I had tapped it out of corundum in my last visit so continued on to Greywater Grotto to the South of Helgen, and made at least a little collection there and in some of the surrounding hills.  I passed through Falkreath on the way, but decided to stay at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood as I had before.  It was closer to my final destination of Whiterun and Falkreath is just so grim.

This morning, I made good time to Whiterun and was able to sort out enough small daggers that I should hopefully be able to prove to Ghorza that I’m ready for her next lesson.  I even got a chance to sharpen my ax and fix the fitting on my armor a little.  Whiterun is charming enough I guess, but ever since the whole thing with the dragon, everyone there is calling me “the Dragonborn”.  It’s obnoxious.  This one little kid kept following me around the whole time.  I hope I don’t have to come back here any time soon.

I’m writing this just after a nice lunch at the Bannered Mare, mercifully hidden away in a backroom away from gawkers, and riding a carriage towards Markarth.  Normally I would loath to take a carriage, stupid, lurching things, but at this point in the day it’s the only way to reach home by tonight and it is the cheapest way to get there.  The driver, a Nord named Bjorlan or Bjorlim or something will not shut up.

Urbal gro-Dushnikh

________________________________________________________________

26th of Last Seed, 201

Another vampire attack in Markarth when I got in last night.  By the time I came in the main gates, one of the guards had already died, so I did what I could to help.  I hate Death Hounds.  This morning one of the guards from last night asked if I’d help in finding out why Margaret was attacked in the market.  That was nearly a week ago, I was surprised they had not resolved it.  They handed me a guards uniform and sent me on my way.

I decided to check the murder’s room in the Warrens, and he had a note from someone who called themselves “N”.  Leaving the warrens a man attacked me, saying to drop the case.  Strangely, not only did the same thing happen when I asked around the Silver Blood Inn, but this time the man that accosted me was a guard.  All signs pointed to Thoran Silver-Blood and the reclusive Nepo, so I figured I’d pay them a visit in that order.

     ***     

Thoran is an ass and in an Orc stronghold, he would have been beheaded years ago.  At first he was uncooperative, but a pair of assassins broke in to kill him, and kill his wife when they got in their way.  can’t say I feel sorry for the man, but at least he was more talkative after he saw it  might cost him his life.  Turns out he and Nepo work for the “King in Rags” a man they call Madanach who organizes the Forsworn from within Cidhna Mine.  Nepo was an ambush, but an Orc nose can smell and ambush a mile away.  His head was rolling across the floor before his little Forsworn housemaid could even get off her first spell.

I followed a note Eltrys gave me the night of the murder, saying to meet him in the Temple to Talos, but when I arrived there he was dead.  Two guards and the local Imperial Legate, Legate Admand, were waiting for me.  They said that I was under arrest for all the murders, as they needed someone to pin it on.  They explained that I wasn’t really supposed to figure any of this out, they just needed it to look like they were investigating.  I am a proud warrior, as all Orcs are, and probably could have taken three random guards on.  But with the Legate, I knew resistance meant death, and I was forced to go.

I’m scratching this on my pick ax with a shiv, in case I get out of here.  I originally started this journal to tell what it’s like for Orcs outside their strongholds.  I’ve been framed for murder.  Because I’m green.

Urbal gro-Dushnikh

________________________________________________________________

To those familiar with Skyrim: no, I did not officially become part of the town guard, I just took the dead guard’s armor.  I wanted a reason to investigate, but in character he would have just left it to the professionals.  So I made him one of the professionals.

Review: The Art of Remember Me

Remember Me has me more excited and nervous for a video game than I can basically ever recall being. By all accounts, it looks to be everything I love- cyberpunk, female-protagonist (!!!), atypical gameplay, and, most pertinent to the following, beautiful design. The Art of Remember Me, with forward by creative direct Jean-Maxime Moris and introductions by art directors Aleksi Briclot and Michel Koch, has only made my burning want for this game even stronger, and reminded me why I absolutely adore cyberpunk design so painfully much.

First off, let me summarize what Remember Me is about. It takes place in Neo-Paris (a near-future Ghost in the Shell more than Mirror’s Edge) where memories can be digitized and then extracted at any given time- in essence, human memory becomes transferable and externalized. Memory becomes vulnerable to theft and tampering, thus human nature itself gets open for alteration, as when our memories are vulnerable our very self-identity is also vulnerable. The undercurrent of commentary on the role of technology in our lives is unavoidable; it is the hallmark of good sci-fi and especially cyberpunk, after all. The protagonist of the game, Nilin, is a hacker (of course) who can manipulate that digital memory data, but who wakes up to have her own memory hacked and has to work to regain it and figure out why it was taken in the first place.  As I said, it feels very Ghost in the Shell meets Inception(a parallel Koch referenced himself), and as a fan of both those things I am just giddy with excitement for it.

Now, into the art book. Right off the bat you’re greeted with beautiful nighttime cityscape illustrations, with lots of blue-orange contrast (it is cyberpunk, lest we forget). The design of the book is very crisp and clean, which beautifully suits the subject matter.  Where so many books succumb to giving it the most frills possible (the Game of Thrones Season 1 companion book comes to mind), this one knows when to keep it simple. The forward, for example, is just an orange title with black text on a white page, with a fade to game scenery at the bottom- simple, effective, appealing.  Moris’s foreword sets the stage nicely for the following concept art, but extolling the virtues and the importance of concept art itself, citing it as the thing “what sparks imaginations”. It’s a love letter to creativity, worldbuilding, and the team that made it happen. It’s always nice to read something that shows just how passionate the artists and creators of a game are, and the foreword just left me with a really good, hopeful feeling about this game.

The same good design sense is carried over to Aleksi Briclot’s introduction. His introduction focuses more on the process of creating a game and the interplay between concept artists, programmers, writers, and so on. He really expounded on the creation of not only the game, but the studio that created it, DONTNOD, and how Remember Me really arose from five guys wanting to make a cool science-fiction game and deciding to go for it rather than just talk about it.

More images here.

Finally, Michel Koch’s introduction. He discusses how cool he thought the memory theme was and how much creative potential it had. You really get the feel that he 100% loves the project.  We also get a look at how Neo-Paris came to be, and how the team really wanted to keep it in the near-future and believable. The foreword and two intros really give the impression that this was a complete team effort, and that everyone involved is in awe of the others on the team.

From there, the book is broken down into chapters that focus on different aspects of the game. Chapters focus on the setting (Neo-Paris), the main character Nilin, and then hone in on the different episodes and nitty-gritty details of the game itself. At the end is a “Deleted Memories” section, where we get to see the stuff that didn’t quite make it into the game, followed by “Inside the Studio”, which continues the trend of highlighting the collaborative aspect ofRemember Me and emphasizing just how awesome this team is.

The first chapter has an introduction that gives insight into how the team approached the specific aspect of the game about to be delved into. It really helps to get into the minds of the creators and see what their intentions were, while also giving more info about the game itself to really get people hyped up. Comments throughout the book continue this trend, letting the reader know what was going on in the minds of the creators at each step of the way.  Beautiful concept paintings of Neo-Paris are accompanied with comments that point out, “look, that’s the Seine!”, or other such things that give the game a baseline comparison with reality that really makes the design choices stand out. As one comment stated, “recognizable elements were established” so that “larger than life elements could be layered on top”. The scenery looks bright and colorful while retaining the darker edge that a city at night has, avoiding the muddier “realism” that so many games take lately.

More images here.

The thought put into every aspect of the setting, from graffiti to advertisements, is remarkable, and a delight to look at. I was struck, however, by just how similar certain things were to Ghost in the Shell; the Sensen’s neck access points, Senwalls, look almost identical to those used in GitS, and one advertisement had to be a direct reference to the show as it used the title “Bits: Babes in the Shell”.  This isn’t a bad thing- Ghost in the Shell is one of the cyberpunk works, and it’s not surprising to see it referenced here. The problem arises when it’s too much of a good thing, and we won’t really know if it crossed that threshold or not until the game comes out, but judging by the art book I don’t think this will be a concern.

The next part focuses on Nilin (does her jacket kind of look like Major Kusanagi‘s or am I just in a GitS rut now?), and the comments about her genesis are really fascinating and informative. For one, they emphasize that Nilin is of mixed ethnicity, as she is a woman of the future. Everything about her was chosen to emphasize this futuristic setting, to which I say well done- it really does not make sense to have every hero be straight-up white, as that is not at all indicative of the world we live in. Her outfit isn’t sexualized, either- it’s practical, with non-heeled boots, jeans, a t-shirt and a really damn cool jacket. Her proportions also aren’t ridiculous. In fact, Nilin reminds me a lot of my best friend from middle school- tall, slender, mixed-ethnicity, and kickass. 

In this chapter we also get a glimpse of gameplay, and learn that Nilin fights by utilizing her hacker abilities or hand-to-hand rather than with the usual arsenal of guns. It’s a unique approach, and I’m really quite excited to see how it pans out.

The rest of the book focus on the scenery from various parts of the games, enemies found there, and NPCs. They paint a really impressive picture of just how thought-out every aspect of this game is, ensuring a cohesive, believable world as a result. And some really, really damn cool fashions, that aren’t just cool for cool’s sake but serve to create distinctions between the three parts of Neo-Paris and thus distinctions in class and job. They remind me a bit of Deus Ex: Human Revolution‘s fashions a bit, but honestly, done even better.

Rather than just running from some agency that wants to take you down (a la Mirror’s Edge), enemies such as the Leapers come into play. They’re humans that have abused the Sensen technology and mutated accordingly, with memory and mind issues and something like a hivemind that links them- perhaps a warning regarding transhumanism? Regardless, they’re creepy-looking buggers, in no small part because they retain just enough humanity to keep the fact that they once were humans at the forefront of your mind.

More images here.

Another touch I love that came to light via the concept art is that modernity coexists with history. There’s an absolutely stunning concept painting of a traditional stone statue of a woman, in traditional-looking room with a beautiful glass ceiling, but you can clearly see digital, brightly-colored advertisements in the hallways branching off from the room the statue is in. So many cyberpunk settings completely ignore historic traditions and focus on clean, crisp lines and glass and steel everywhere, so it’s refreshing and fascinating to see traditional materials like stone brought back into the equation, no matter how slight a role they might serve.

Then you get pages of info on Memorize, and valets, and architects and drones and- there is so much info here! I couldn’t do a review that does it all justice, there’s just that much, and it’s all presented beautifully and with insightful commentary to help the reader figure out just what it is and why it’s the way that it is. 

Everything is clever, logical, and stunningly done, all while keeping in mind that all this art needs to work well in game (a key point for the creation of X-Mas, a rival memory hunter of Nilin’s). Really, that’s what hit me most while reading through this art book; every aspect was designed to make the game have more impact and be more enjoyable to play, without sacrificing the deeper themes the team wanted to get to.

The team’s goal was to create a believable cyberpunk world for their story about memory, human nature, and the role of technology in modern life to take place in, and if the art book is anything to by they achieved this and then some. The book is a delight, brilliant to read and look at, painfully clever at times (the chapter that looks at the concept art for the Bastile is called “Panoptic Icon”- just brilliant), and provides so much insight into the game that I have no idea how I’m going to be able to wait until June 4^thto play it, I’m so damned excited for it. Seeing how all the concept art was translated into the game will be another layer of enjoyment to the game. The concept art here promises a brilliant game, if the mechanics can live up to the ideas. At $39.99, if you’re a fan of brilliant design and thoughtful concepts, especially of the steampunk variety, it’d be a disservice to yourself not to pick it up. It shot up to the top of my to-buy list, and if you’re at all excited for Remember Me do yourself a favor and pick this up- it’ll make the wait a bit more bearable. A word of warning, though, the art book does include some mild spoilers, so avoid Chapter 10 if you really don’t want that at all.

The afterward by Oskar Guilbert includes a line that sums up my feelings after reading this book: “If the quality of this game can be at the same level as the concept art, then we must never give up.” It’s true. If the game is even half so good as the concept art, Remember Me promises to be a brilliant, fascinating game, and I wait, eager and hopeful, to see if it achieves that.

Jeni “Science Whyzard” Hackett loves all things cyberpunk and cannot contain her excitement for Remember Me, because cyberpunk and female leads and STUNNING DESIGN and oh goodness she needs a moment to compose herself. She also really loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and the clear philosophical influences on the game- is it June 4^th yet? You can find her on twitter under the name @allonsyjeni, email her at jeni.is.a.geek@gmail.com, or find her on tumblr at hellomynameisgeek.

Review: Mass Effect Library #1

The Mass Effect Library Vol. 1 lives up to its name, including four comics in one – a great deal for someone like me who got into Mass Effect quite late in the game (I didn’t start the trilogy until well after the third game came out, which turned out to be a lucky fluke of fate, but that’s another article for another time). It’s attributed to Mac Walters, Omar Francia, and John Jackson Miller, but a slew of other creators had a hand in the comics it compiles. The four comics and the included one-shot stories delve more into things hinted at in-game but never got the chance to take center stage. They all focus on squadmates or side-characters, including everyone from Liara T’Soni to Captain Bailey of C-Sec. Like all good supplementary materials to the source, they’re non-essential to enjoy the game, but they definitely add some enjoyable flavor to it. Now buckle up, people; this review goes over four full comic arcs and a bunch of short-stories, so it’s gonna get long.

Before I get into reviewing the four comics included, I’ll make a quick note of some overall things about the Library (and, by extension, the Mass Effect comics) that I enjoy. The main thing is that it lets the creators add comments to pages at the bottom – like a commentary track you’d find on a DVD, but in comic form. It’s fun seeing what the artists’ and writers’ thought processes were in translating the game to the page, providing insights on everything from making biotics still look awesome without the glow to illustrating parts of Omega that hadn’t been revealed in-game yet but would be, thus necessitating a careful hand in order to avoid rendering a canon supplementary materially inaccurate later on (something fans would surely notice).

The other touch I quite liked and found to be essential that ran through the comics was a more personal one – Shepard is not only never depicted, but also never assigned a pronoun. In a game like Mass Effect, where creating your own Shepard is a big aspect of the game (to the point where myself and many of my friends have elaborate backstories and pretty strong emotional attachments to our various Sheps), it is vital to not lock in one singular canon Shepard. We all know Jane and John Shepard, sure, but mercifully they don’t even risk choosing between those two – Shepard is Shepard, and while it may make for some clunky dialogue at times (say “Shepard” one more time, Illusive Man, I dare you) I much prefer a panel of awkward to raging that my female Shepards are suddenly forever rendered as non-canon. There are even some moments where the writers intentionally lampshade this planned ambiguity (“hard to tell if it’s even a man or a woman, blown to hell like that”), and they make for some quality comedic moments while recognizing the importance of gamers’ attachment to the character.

(Anyone even thinking about creating a Mass Effect movie,take note: you’re gonna piss everyone off. There’s a reason the comics and the anime series, Paragon Lost, do not include Shepard and never assign Shepard pronouns. It fundamentally changes the narrative, and people don’t want that. Seriously, you already smacked your fans in the face with the ending; you really don’t want to try your luck by creating a canon Shepard that will invalidate our own personal stories.)

Anyway, more to the point, the comics.

First off is Redemption, a Liara-centric story that looks at what happened between Shepard’s death in the beginning of Mass Effect 2 and the delivery of Shepard’s body to Cerberus. Now, it being Liara-centric is either a cause for delight or dismay, but hear me out. I did not like Liara in ME1. She weirded me out a bit, as she was just way too into me. However, I found her to be much improved in Mass Effect 2, and once I’d played through the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, I was sold on her because damn, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard at a game sequence as I did during the chase scene of that DLC. If you’re like me and Liara had to grow on you, fear not – the Liara of this comic is the Liara of the Shadow Broker DLC, in no small part because this is where that story began.

Related to that, we get to see a lot of Feron, which makes me really, absurdly happy. It’s good to know more about the guy Liara wanted to save so badly. Feron himself is just a quick-talking, snark bucket of delight with solid motivations. Seriously, I did not expect to love him as much as I do.  Overall, Redemption was a solid read that I feel contributes well to the canon, as it gives you more insight into how Shepard’s body got to Cerberus and for what reasons, while also setting up Liara for her information broker role in Mass Effect 2. It also very neatly sets up the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC to have even more impact, to the point where, excuse me, I really want to go replay that now.

The next is Evolution. It utilizes a more realistic, mature art style compared to Redemption, and takes a very interesting story arc. It starts with Shanxi, which fans will know as a place highly relevant to Ashley Williams’ grandfather, and it follows the person who will become The Illusive Man while also providing insight into the First Contact War. Quite a few familiar-ish faces show up, making this read both highly informative in regards to the making of the Illusive Man and fascinating in terms of how all the components of the Mass Effect story intertwine.  I do wish they’d let Eva zip her suit up, though. Seriously, that gratuitous cleavage just isn’t necessary. I’m accustomed to the Ass Effect, but I don’t need that!

While Redemption felt light-hearted and comedic at times, Evolution is straight-up serious exposition and narrative, and it works. It suits the creation story of the Illusive Man, informs his choice to create Cerberus, and sets up a really fascinating parallel between him and Saren. I already rather liked TIMmy, and honestly, this just made me like him more because I got to understand him more. Always a good thing.

Moving right along, we have Invasion. Continuing the trend of following characters from the game, this one focuses on Omega and Aria T’Loak. While I love Aria, this one dragged for me a bit, mainly because it was mostly space dogfights and lots of bickering. I loved Redemption and Evolution for their backstory and the light they shed on certain in-game events, and that isn’t as center-stage in Invasion. It’s still damn pretty, though, and not necessarily a bad read; it just doesn’t hold up to the previous two in my opinion. Although I did rather enjoy Petrovsky, particularly his Russian literature references, and the abundant military history references spoke to my history major in a rather pleasant manner. It ends more strongly than it starts, I will give it that. Just get through the first bit, and it becomes just as good as the previous two.

(Being fair, Invasion sets up the Omega DLC, a DLC I haven’t yet played. Maybe this would be more meaningful to me if I had. I’ll come back and update this if I find it fundamentally changes my stance.)

Next, there’s Homeworlds. These are quicker, one-issue stories that show us the personal history of some of the squaddies. Vega’s goes into how he entered the military; Tali’s opens with her struggling to get to Dr. Michele (all the way back in ME1 – we get to see how she got that intel on Saren!); Garrus’s tale is framed by him recalling his life while making his stand on Omega (the Archangel recruitment mission from ME2. His is probably my favorite one, right in the feels), and Liara’s explains how she ended up on Mars (beginning of ME3). I enjoyed all of them, and I felt them to be very true to the characters they depicted, although I did find myself wishing for more. I suppose I shouldn’t be greedy; my two favorites (Tali and Garrus) did get issues, but I would’ve killed for a Kaidan, Ashley, Thane, or Mordin-centric one.

Following Homeworlds is Incursion, a quick, one-shot comic following Aria on Omega. It was, well, quick. Pretty, but didn’t really do much. Although it is always nice to see Aria being badass.

Next up: Inquisition. This follows an unexpected side character–Bailey, the C-Sec officer turned Commander–and shows how he got his promotion. And, again, this story hits you in the feels. Remember how you and Bailey talk about contacting loved ones on Earth? Yeah, we see him lose his chance to take some leave to Earth to see his daughter at the hands of Udina in the name of a promotion. Like I said, feels.

And now we come to Conviction, the final tale in the book called a Library for a damn good reason. This one follows Vega, reacting negatively to news reports painting Shepard as a terrorist after Shepard takes down the Batarian system (I think that was also a DLC. There seems to be a trend of comics setting up or responding to DLC). Not much else to say, it’s quick.

That does it for the comics, although there’s a fun sketchbook-type component at the end where we get to see concept work from artist Omar Francia. Always nice to see some concept work, especially since, honestly, the ones he illustrated were my favorites in terms of art style, as it felt the truest to the game while still being remarkably beautiful.

… This review got long, and that’s a testament to the amount of content it had to cover. There are 400+ pages of comics and art in this Library, including all four series and all the one-shot stories published elsewhere around the web. It’s a bit pricey at $59.99, but considering each of the four series in it would run about $16 each, it’s a hard-cover, and it includes one-shot stories that haven’t been published elsewhere (and honestly, while they’re not bad, wouldn’t really merit buying on their own in my opinion), it still seems like a reasonable price. Also, the cover art is gorgeous, which is a check in its favor. If you haven’t been following the comics and want to get your hands on all of the already published ones in one go, this is your best bet. This is a collection that won’t disappoint and will look mighty pretty on a bookshelf.

Jeni “Science Whyzard” Hackett was really pleasantly surprised by how much she loved these comics, particularly the four full series. She supposes she’s lucky she found The Illusive Man really fascinating, although she does wish there had been more of other squadmates like Wrex, Kaidan, Ashley, Jack, and so on. Oh, well, can’t get everything, she supposes, and there is always time for more. When playing herself, she ends up going pure Paragon and romances Kaidan, in part because she really, painfully ships Tali/Garrus and couldn’t bear to break them up- on a related note, she is currently working on a Tali cosplay, cosplay gods save her soul.You can find her on twitter under the name @allonsyjeni, email her at jeni.is.a.geek@gmail.com, or find her on tumblr at hellomynameisgeek.

Review: R.I.P.D.: City of the Damned TPB

As you might remember from my review of the first R.I.P.D. trade, the Rest in Peace Department is God’s police force, helping to expunge demons and other dark forces that just won’t stay in hell where they belong. In that trade, our protagonist Nick Cruz teamed up with Roy Pulsipher to find out who killed him. The comic wasn’t all that original in its presentation, but it made up for that lack of originality with strong characters and a hell of a lot of fun. R.I.P.D.: City of the Damned, however, was written just this year, thirteen years after the original series, with none of the writers or artists coming back to work on it. Reviving the series without any of the main creators doesn’t make a lot of sense…until you remember there’s a movie based on the series coming out in July. Yep, it’s a cash-in. So let’s look at what they’ve done and get this over with.

The first series was written and created by Peter Lenkov, and it appeared by all rights to be a self-contained story. At the very least, there was little chance of Roy coming back, since that mission was his last; he’d hit his hundred years of service required to move onto the afterlife, so his adventures in the R.I.P.D. should be over. But I guess someone looked at the original series and decided Roy was the far superior character (he was), so new writer Jeremy Barlow had to come up with a reason to make the series about him.

So, instead of progressing the story, we get a flashback, ensuring that no tension is had throughout the book since we know Roy survives in the end anyway. Oof. Not a great start. Especially when it means the back of the trade explicitly lies to you, as Nick Cruz…wait, apparently it’s Nick Walker now, in a bizarre retcon that lazily gets rid of any racial traits the original character had so that Ryan Reynolds could be cast as the lead. UGH. Thanks for ensuring the hispanic and Latin American communities who would so desperately love to finally have a leading man in a movie like this won’t get the chance, Hollywood. Anyway, he’s in about ten pages of the four issue collection despite being mentioned multiple times on the back cover. Gotta love false advertising.

Before I go into the multiple problems with this book, I should point out that the art is not one of them. Tony Parker (no, not that Tony Parker, this Tony Parker) and Michelle Madsen (best known for her work in the Buffyverse) are more that capable of picking up where original artists Lucas Mrangon and Randy Emberlin left off. The art is definitely different than the original, going for something more realistic than cartoony, but the change is not necessarily for the worse. Also, the design for the villain is absolutely incredible. It’s not necessarily all that original, but it’s sinister in all the right ways, and it deserves to be in a better comic.

If a story is going to take away from the action by setting it in a flashback until the very end, then it has to be a piece that opens one’s eyes to the character, helping us learn who he really is and why he behaves the way he does. It has to be well told and well executed through and through, really working as an exploration of the themes of the original more than anything else. So, one must ask: what do we learn about Roy Pulsipher, the R.I.P.D., or any of the relevant characters in the series? Why, absolutely nothing! There’s no character development or deep symbolism or thematic exploration; instead, it’s just one big action set piece after the next. You don’t even really get to rest to take in what just happened, since the series had to be finished before the movie came out and they could only fit in four issues if they wanted this on shelves in time. And the side characters are so forgettable that I’ve read this trade twice and still can’t remember anyone’s name.

Image taken from http://www.darkhorse.com

Worst of all, at the very end, we finally break out of flashback and have a chance to see events that can truly change the course of the R.I.P.D. universe. The weight of this encounter has been building throughout the entire series. Supposedly everything that happened, the entire bland ride from action scene to action scene, was meant to set up tension for this exact encounter. And right when you finally think that perhaps they’ve really been building up to something this entire time, it just ends. Seriously. They spend almost ninety pages building up to this scene, only to end it in less than ten panels. I didn’t even know you could kill dramatic tension that quickly. It’s clear that the series was badly rushed at this point, so I understand they had to wrap everything up, but when the plot of the flashback is so dumb that even the writer points out how silly this all is, I can’t help but feel like the ending deserved more respect than it got.

R.I.P.D.: City of the Damned will not be seen as anyone on this creative team’s finest hour. Then again, being forced to work with a universe you didn’t create and have no ties to that also fits the image some Hollywood company wants to create for their movie adaptation all while on a strict deadline could not have been fun. I’m going to give the creative team all of the benefit of the doubt and assume the bureaucracy behind this sunk the project before it could even launch. Still, if it isn’t obvious, this is $14.99 you should spend elsewhere.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He’s hoping beyond hope the movie will be enjoyable, but this is most assuredly not a good sign. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Review: Dream Thief #1

Dream Thief #1 is a new comic series written by Jai Nitz and drawn by Greg Smallwood. As I haven’t read anything by either creator before, all I had to go on was the premise of the comic. A man steals an Aboriginal mask that somehow gives him superpowers that have a dark bent to them. Ok, sounds interesting enough, but where do you take that premise from there? Well, in the case of Jai Nitz, apparently you take that comic to a rather dark and hateful place, making it difficult to read, yet still making the reader want to keep going. Why am I so conflicted about this comic? Well, follow the link to learn more.

Dream Thief #1 introduces our protagonist, John Lincoln, while providing the origin story necessary to get the comic started quickly. The first half of the comic is very well paced, introducing a few side characters that are sure to become more relevant later while also giving us a glimpse into John’s mind. By the end of this comic, we have a very good idea of who John is and what he cares about (more on this later), and we’ve learned the origins of his powers that will dictate the course of the rest of the series.

Now that you understand the base of this comic, it’s time to answer one simple question: why read Dream Thief #1? You would think this question would be self-explanatory, but as this review progresses, you’re likely to understand why I find this question so difficult.

Let’s start with the art. It’s pretty good. It’s not something like Dragon Resurrection where the art is enough to blow you away, but it more than gets the job done, using clever colouring combinations to highlight what’s important. It can a little lazy with the backgrounds sometimes, but that’s forgivable. Less forgivable are the spelling errors. Seriously don’t know how you screwed that up, Smallwood (responsible for both art and lettering on this issue), but I appreciate the laughs at being told that one shouldn’t smoke weed in a “musem”. Also, using a facebook like symbol to show a woman is interested in another guy? Yeah, I don’t know who’s idea that was, but it was a tacky one at best.

Well, what about our protagonist? Dear God I hope you’re not reading this book for a likable protagonist. John Lincoln is one of the most misogynistic, lazy, good for nothings that we’re supposedly rooting for that I’ve seen in a long time. Openly cheating on your girlfriend while she’s traumatized after a break-in during which she was held hostage at gunpoint? Classy. Also, he repeatedly refuses to take responsibility for his actions, and acts like a jerk whenever someone tells him to grow up. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to slap him across the face. Unless you’re a bigger jerk than he is, you’re not going to end up rooting for the guy in the end.

Also, I should mention there’s a scene towards the end about which I can’t really talk because it’d be a spoiler that I found downright offensive. The powers of the mask are established as being directed towards those who deserve it, and there’s no context given as to why it goes after the second group of people in this comic. You know what is given? Their sexual orientation and profession. Either the rules of this mask are poorly explained to add suspense that doesn’t really work the way they planned, or the writer is truly a despicable person. Either way, I shouldn’t have to be wondering which is the case, and given there were a thousand different ways they could have achieved the same effect, it’s mind boggling that they chose one this inherently gross. I’m giving benefit of the doubt because I want to believe that no mainstream comic could be published that’s that hateful, but the explanation of the mask’s powers better explain that one sooner rather than later.

Image taken from http://www.darkhorse.com

So the protagonist is a twat and there’s some offensive bits at the end; what about the rest of the story? Well, after that first half that was well executed, things go off rails once the power-granting mask is found. The whole thing is incredibly rushed, leaving me feeling like Nitz could have used two issues to tell this particular story. In its rush, the comic took a couple shortcuts that largely undermine the issue. First, it assume that the audience is mind-numbingly stupid. Quick pop quiz: do you think that watching crime shows gives you enough knowledge to commit a murder? If you answered “Of course not; that’d be silly,” then congratulations! You are officially smarter than this comic thinks you are. Given there were so many other ways to explain that knowledge, it’s still strange to me that that was what they picked. Also, the comic gets rid of a character a move that feels like it should be bigger than it is before the audience can make any emotional connection with that character. And the moral superiority with which the book claims that move is justified is laughable at best and downright aggravating at worst.

In conclusion, there’s pretty much nothing about this comic that should justify its $3.99 cover price. Objectively, the thing is a mess that manages to infuriate, insult, and offend me more than any book I’ve read while I’ve been reviewing comics.

And I can’t wait to read more.

I know that makes absolutely no sense, but come with me on this. Yes, the story is badly paced, but the dialogue and exposition is well written and displays a lot of great characterization, even if those characters aren’t necessarily likable. The premise is poorly explained, but it’s an interesting one that creates the potential for a lot of really great stories. And with the exception of a few bad artistic choices, the art is fun to look at.

Do I recommend this comic? Of course not; there’s absolutely nothing about this comic that makes it worthy of a recommendation when there are so many other, better books coming out this week. But I’m going to keep reading it simply to see where it goes. Perhaps I’m just one of those people who can’t turn away from slow-motion train wrecks. Or maybe this is just an issue where everything went wrong, and the clear talent the team presents will conjure an issue that does everything right. Either way, stay far, far away until I figure out which of these two things is actually propelling me forward.

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. He’s wonders if the Dark Horse editors were on vacation last week, as this is the second book with significant editing mishaps this week. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.

Review: Dragon Resurrection

Mutated animal hybrids?  Check.  Dragons?  Check.  Badass fight scenes?  Gratuitous check.  Dragon Resurrection is a comic by co-writers Mark Byers, Lin Zhang, and Lyan Zhang (who seem conspicuously absent from the internet) about a girl and her twin brother who are working together to unlock the ancient potential of dragons with the modern science of genetics.  But, as always with any such story, there is an evil, grey haired military general looking to raise an army of dragon warriors.  We’ll talk about everything I loved, and the few things that made me shudder in horror.

The art is the first thing that MUST be mentioned for this comic.  It’s fabulous.  The cover (left) is just a taste of the delicious art in this comic.  Admittedly, the cover is by Vosa Wang, but Erfan Fajar‘s work in the main body of the comic is no less impressive.  In the first couple pages, we get a brief history of the legend of dragons used in this world, and there is some armor that has such beautiful, graceful details that I want every D&D character I ever play to have their own set. The genetic experiments, both failed and successful, are beautifully done.  The scenery is gorgeous as well, which usually receives minimal effort from an artist.  I would buy this book just to stare at the art.

That’s not to say the story isn’t good.  In fact, I found it very compelling with characters having understandable motivations. Even the somewhat unusual goals of the bad guy are reasonably explained.  I do wish more was explained about the twin’s father, because he is a decently significant character and yet, I’m not even 100% what his job is (Archeologist? Historian? Maybe?).  That being said, I feel like we do get a working understanding of the twins’ background, and they are of course the main characters, Jesse somewhat more than Jack.

I think it’s also very interesting how they touch on a key point of perspective: modern (or rather somewhat futuristic) technology is actually much more of a match for ancient mystical powers than we usually portray it.  Think of it this way: one thing that got people declared witches centuries ago was their ability to heal others with unexplained concoctions, yet these same brews would be no match for modern medicine and a typical hospital.  At the time, it seemed potent, but that was compared to what was available at the time.  The comic becomes a grand battle between a man with super high tech gadgets and one with ancient dragon powers. It’s a fairly even match, which I think is a more realistic portrayal of how such things would really play out.

Taken from http://www.darkhorse.com

I have to complain about, well, words.  The letting is done by Nate Piekos, who runs a digital font site, and yet, his lettering is often hard to read, and letters will sometimes run together.  It’s not as bad with English words, because with the familiarity of being a native speaker, er… reader, one can figure out what’s being said pretty easily. But with Chinese names and words that are sprinkled throughout by the Jesse and Jack, as well as their father, it can get a little confusing, and it inadvertently slows down the reading process.  But all in all, it’s not that bad of lettering; it just has a few hang ups.

On the other hand, each time the action shifts locations, the latitude and longitude are marked, along with the name of the location.  And after about half way through, they’re wrong.  Part of Alaska is marked somewhere out past Hawaii, a city in Malawi is placed south of the Cape of Good Hope.  Hell, they put the U.S. Pentagon in Quebec! That’s a pretty big screw up, considering that the person who wrote those coordinates got it wrong, and it was then missed by (roughly) at least three other people in the editing/review process.  If had happened once, I could understand and say “You know, sometimes thing slip through.”  But it happens four times.  That’s careless, and on a project this big, they should really be ashamed of themselves.

Despite it’s flaws, it is still a very good read.  The comic goes for $17.99, which is a great price.  Like I said earlier, this is worth the eighteen bucks just for the art alone, but it’s a pretty good story to boot.  A well deserved pat on the back for Mark, Lin and Lyan, a bottle of our finest for Erfan, and a stern, disappointed look for Nate.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, is excited that this series will apparently be coming to theaters in Fall 2014, despite the lack on an IMDB page.  He loves animated movies.  And dragons.  And Legends.  And boats (unrelated).  You can find him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: The Fall of the House of Usher #1

The Fall of the House of Usher #1 (written and illustrated by Richard Corben) is the first part of a two part adaptation of the short story by Edgar Allen Poe. I’m familiar with the original short story, which I read long enough ago to remember the general story but to have forgotten a lot of the details. That led to a lot of confusion when I read this book, since Corben doesn’t just adapt The Fall of the House of Usher, but also merges it with elements of The Oval Portrait, a Poe story with which I was unfamiliar. Until I read both stories for this review, I couldn’t tell which elements were taken from each, which really speaks to Corben’s writing.

An adaptation of something by Poe in comic format is probably not something that I’d expect to work completely. He deals with very internal stories, while a visual medium like comics are better dealing with external stories. There’s enough going on in this story that it can be heavily event focused, but the tone that Poe had in the original story still needs to be conveyed, which is where the art comes in.

The art for this book is very interesting and essential to the story. With it, Corben manages to convey the creepy tone necessary to pull this off. The house, while still habitable, is highly dilapidated, looking just like a house where someone that crazy would live, and that doesn’t even get into the Ushers themselves. They’re drawn with deformed features, both accentuating that they’re related and adding even more to the creepy tone throughout.

There are a couple places that the layout of the panels is confusing and not intuitive. I don’t see any deeper purpose to it – it really just feels like an incompetent layout, which luckily only happens a couple times and not throughout the book, otherwise it might be a major problem.

There’s also an odd flow of time throughout the book. Unlike the panel issue, this fits right at home here. Poe had a tendency to play around with perception, and having days elapsing between panels with only subtle indications feels much like that. The long period of time over which the story takes place also accentuates just how creepy everything really is. Things like that make the writing hard to really talk about without delving into specifics – it’s mostly in setting the tone that the writing works, and it’s hard to convey in this review without just telling you that it works.

This issue also has a few pages at the end of extra features, which I’ve noted before that I am a real sucker for. This is especially surprising since this is a single issue and not a trade. It has quite a few sketches and includes some of the ideas that Corben had while deciding how to adapt this material. I love these, especially since his methods are definitely those of a perfectionist who wants to find just the right feel and look for everything.

Overall, would I recommend this for $3.99? Yes, so long as you realize that this isn’t a standalone story and will need the second part. If that bothers you, you might want to wait for the second issue to come out. It leaves me really wanting to know what he’s doing with the second half since it’s changed significantly from the source, but the fact that an adaptation of something I’m already familiar with leaves me not knowing what’s coming next and really wanting to know is probably the best recommendation I can give.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) has had an odd fascination with Poe ever since using a flashlight to read The Raven in a dark room in the middle of the night, which seemed like a better idea at the time. Follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings to read his other thoughts in bite-sized pieces when he actually has any worth sharing.