Review: S.H.O.O.T. First #2

I was rather unkind in my last review of S.H.O.O.T. First.  This was mostly because their own universe collapses in on it’s own rules.  This however is issue #2, and so I will give the series carte blanche under suspension of disbelief.  Because once you ignore the inherent flaws of the structure of the setting, the story told in that universe is not bad.  Not great, but not bad.

This comic takes us a couple months after the initial story and last time’s new member, Infidel, is still struggling to get used to what he now knows about the world.  I won’t spoil the who, but it looks like he might not be the only one having a bit of a crisis of faith.  To me, this is what this issue is about.  Not crises of faith specifically, but it’s about the members of the team.

Bett does needlepoint and tells Infidel a little about he background and we learn why Mrs. Brookstone’s son seemed magical/cursed/nonhuman at the end of the previous issue.  Byron has a much sillier sense of humor than the traditional British stereotype, but does love his alcohol.  I don’t really feel like I learned much about Robot or Kenshin.  This helped a lot because now I feel like the characters are actually characters, not just manikins with guns.

But the big thing that’s missing is interpersonal relationships.  Not necesarily romantic, but anything between them.  Bett is the one exception.  Like I said, she talks to Infidel, the needlepoint (“Smile!  There’s no God!”) is a gift for Byron.  She acts like they are people and like she wants to get along with them and wants to know the people she’s fighting along side.  The others act like player characters in games that don’t really care about getting to know the NPCs fighting beside them.  I realize that some of these things take time to introduce in a series, but both of the tidbits about Bett that we know came in interpersonal interactions.  Give us more of that!

This was better, but I’m still not convinced it’s worth $3.99.  But at least this issue inspires hope that there is a future for this series.  We’ll see.

Matthew Bryant, a.k.a. Baker Street Holmes, is a writer and the lead editor for the Red Shirt Crew.  He plays a lot of pen and paper RPGs and puts a Hell of a lot of effort into his character’s story, personality and so on.  No one wants to play a gingerbread man.  You can follow him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes, or email him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: S.H.O.O.T. First #1

Psychics.  I’ve been reading a lot about psychic this week.  Well, I guess S.H.O.O.T. First isn’t quite psychics, not as we’re used to at least, but it’s basically psychics.  This is one of those good news, bad news comics, unfortunately.

The big divide on this comic is that it is a very interesting idea with poor writing.  Let me give you the short version of the setting: S.H.O.O.T. (Secular Humanist Occult Obliteration Taskforce) is a secret group that fights off mythical and religious threats in our world.  It has potential, don’t you agree?

But the devil’s in the details, as they say, and that’s where this whole thing gets hinky, then falls apart.  You see, the mythical creatures are actually extra dimensional creatures of pure psychic energy that live off faith and only look like creatures from our myths and have their purported abilities because the form of our belief affects their shape.  Take a second, cause we’re not done.  As science advances, there are fewer things one must have faith in, fewer things one cannot know for sure, and their power wanes. They also can’t reveal themselves to the world, or they would become fact, and loose power.  Soooo… why are they even a threat?

“Well, they just are!” seems to be the only explanation, and they are building towards an apocalypse.  Cause creatures that rely on people to survive and can’t let their existence every be confirmed or they’ll die, want to invade the planet, removing all doubt of their nonexistance, and before that kills their power off entirely, want to destroy the vast majority of their power source.  It’s suggested that they intend to leave some survivors to act as a power source, but it’s not explained how the survivors will provide enough faith to keep these “outside actors” as they are called, alive.

Worse, conventional weapons can’t hurt them so they must use special weapons powered by the psychic energy of… disbelief?  Pure Atheism?  Something.  They developed this technology by dissecting an “Angel” who willingly gave his life to give Earth a chance.  Because reasons.  But if they can’t be hurt by human weapons, how the flaming fuck did they dissect him?  And if the weapons work on atheism, if one must be dead sure God doesn’t exist for them to work, how does the guy the team meet PRAYING IN A MOSQUE use their weapons?  You do not pray unless a little piece of you still believes it all might be true.  You just don’t.

Like I said, conceptually strong, poorly executed.  Not at all worth $3.99.  I might buy it for 50 cents.  Maybe.

Matthew Bryant, a.k.a. Baker Street Holmes is a writer and the lead editor for the Red Shirt Crew.  He will not discuss his religious views here, but does appreciate that Atheists usually make sense in their arguments.  If you want the same thing, done well, check out American Gods from your nearest library.  You know, those big buildings with lots of books in them.  If you wish to follow him on Twitter, check out @BStreetHolmes or you can email him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.