Legends of the Dark Knight #1 <digital first> (DC Comics) < Read 31 Jan 2014>
Release Date : June7, 2013
Issue Title ''The Butler Did It"
Editor : Ben Abernathy
Writer : Damon Lindelof
Artist : Jeff Lemire
Inker : Jeff Lemire
Letter : Saida Temofonte
Colorist : Jose Villarrubia
Cover Price : 0.99 (5 cts per page) (1.4 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 73
Dialog Total : 494
Caption Total : 0
Panels <= 10 Words : 56
Panels per Page : 3.6
Words per Panel : 6.7
Words per Page : 24.7
Median Words per Page: 20
Story Time Span: Less than a 24 hour period between scenes. Each scene last only minutes.
Scenes : 2
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology application in full page mode.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. In the digital releases, a two panel page is fairly normal so you would expect the word count to be down though I think it's primarily the expected form factor, phone or pad, that keeps the writer reigned in. With 73 panels, the panel count is comparible to last weeks titan book. However, the words are 75% fewer. A lot of the story plays out with few words spoken in each panel of the comic.With 56 panels containing 10 words or less, the 'quiet' panel to verbal panel ratio is also much higher than normal. Even so, the story was very effectively told with the few words used.While I would have preferred more dialog for my dollar, I don't believe it would have enhanced the story. My only nit pick about the story was the author's portrayal of Bruce Wayne. I don't remember seeing him used in this manner previously and it really seems to grind against the Batman mystique. Being arrogant I could wrap my head around but the, what appeared to be, over indulgence in alcohol to fuel the arrogance just hit a nerve with me. Regardless, for a one and done story, this was executed nearly flawlessly.
The Art. Okay, I don't really like Jeff Lemire's art. But, in the scenes not involving the Batman, it worked really well. He uses a fairly minimal, loose line style that usually doesn't work for me but the six panel layouts where Alfred and Bruce are bantering, the subtle changes in a few lines had the characters go through a range of emotional expressions that was spot on. Where he killed it on the non-Batman scenes, he usually made me grimace, not in a good way, in the panels involving Batman. One of two of his images were pretty cool, but his portrayal of Batman was almost comical as he looked like he weighed 130 lbs soaking wet, was literally wearing underwear, boxers, outside his pants and his anatomy was often .. wrong. The scene where Batman is running across the roof top towards you in the rain, very cool. The scene where Batman jumps feet first into the gunman, something you'd be proud to put on the refrigerator if your 6 year old drew it.
Lettering and coloring. Lettering is professionally done and does not get in the way of the story. The color rendering in my opinion is awesome. It lends itself to the art and creates the mood/setting of a 1930's noir movie. The scene between Alfred & Bruce could have easily been taking place at Rick's in Casablanca. The scene where Batman is running through the rain and in the alley is the setting of virtually any gangster movie from the thirties. This type of coloring may have been the only thing that makes Lemire's art work,.. for the most part.
My ROI: 7 out of 10. While there's nothing in the story that stays burned in one's mind, the art and use of color keep drawing me back to look at the book. I'm getting most of my ROI out of studying the techniques rather than the story itself. However, the noir feel to the story does play to a genre I'm fond of.
Recommending: Yes. This is a very nice one and done story with a low cost of entry. I would caution whoever you recommend it to that they not consider the art 'typical' for a Batman book.
Words, panels and pages in Books
Moderator: JohnMayo
Bloodshot #0 (Valiant Entertainment)
Bloodshot #0 (Valiant Entertainment) < Read 7 Feb 2014>
Release Date : August 2013
Issue Title ''"
Editor : Warren Simons
Writer : Matt Kindt
Artist : Chris Cross
Inker : Chris Cross
Letter : Dave Sharpe
Colorist : Moose Baumann
Cover Price : 3.99 (18 cts per page) (3.4 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 22
Panels : 116
Dialog Total : 1213
Caption Total : 2
Panels <= 10 Words : 69
Panels per Page : 5.3
Words per Panel : 10.5
Words per Page : 55
Median Words per Page: 44
Story Time Span: Unknown. Story is narrated primarily and the narration may be taking place within minutes or over the course of the numerous flashbacks & scenes in the story.
Scenes : 4 with multiple one or two panel flashbacks in time.
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology application in full page mode as well as guided view mode.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. The story reads a lot longer than the actual number of words contained in the book. At 1215 words, it's pretty light even for todays story telling methods. Particularly considering this is a one and done story and origin story to boot. I believe the use of multiple flashbacks within the story gives the story a much denser feel. You get glimpses of various war time conflicts and snapshots therein which gives you a extra second or two to ponder. Before I'd started doing the count, in my mind I was thinking the count would be twice as long. The story itself was decent. I'm still trying to digest it to determine if this is a character I want to follow. The way the story is told gives you zero sense of the character, only what went into creating him. On the other hand, what makes up the characters background is fairly interesting so it's probably worth another look to see if the ongoing story has more character emphasis to make me care. A couple of nit picks about the actual story telling. One, we never get a sense as to the narrator's importance at any time during the story. As the main voice in the book, I would liked to have had a better idea as to who/what he was. We don't learn his name until the 19th page. So I'm currently assuming he means nothing in the ongoing. Two, the way the narrator is ended seemed more than a bit callus considering this appears to be a military initiative. Again, maybe I'll get more context when I read part of the ongoing.
The Art. Good. Solid. Nice panel layout and design with strong line work which I tend to favor. The third scene is 8 pages long with very little dialog involved so the art and artistic storying telling has to carry the book during that time. He doesn't miss a beat with the panels laid out in such a way as to dictate the pace through the action. The ability to create pacing strictly using art is what makes a comic book artist special.
Lettering and coloring. Gotta take exception to the lettering. While it was completely appropriate to the story, what I think was a marginally smaller font on the yellow notepad background was unreadable on my iPad in full page mode. I constantly had to zoom to read the dialog and eventually gave up and went to the guided view mode in order enjoy the story. Again, the font choice and background made perfect sense but failed in this particular execution. The color rendering was professionally done and fit the art nicely.
My ROI: 8 out of 10. The one and done nature of the story and the fact it's an origin story makes this an easy revisit. The art is easy on the eyes and some of the panels deserve more study.
Recommending: Yes. It's an origin and a one off story. If someone likes it, they have the best jumping in point, and if they don't, there no loose ends.
Release Date : August 2013
Issue Title ''"
Editor : Warren Simons
Writer : Matt Kindt
Artist : Chris Cross
Inker : Chris Cross
Letter : Dave Sharpe
Colorist : Moose Baumann
Cover Price : 3.99 (18 cts per page) (3.4 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 22
Panels : 116
Dialog Total : 1213
Caption Total : 2
Panels <= 10 Words : 69
Panels per Page : 5.3
Words per Panel : 10.5
Words per Page : 55
Median Words per Page: 44
Story Time Span: Unknown. Story is narrated primarily and the narration may be taking place within minutes or over the course of the numerous flashbacks & scenes in the story.
Scenes : 4 with multiple one or two panel flashbacks in time.
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology application in full page mode as well as guided view mode.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. The story reads a lot longer than the actual number of words contained in the book. At 1215 words, it's pretty light even for todays story telling methods. Particularly considering this is a one and done story and origin story to boot. I believe the use of multiple flashbacks within the story gives the story a much denser feel. You get glimpses of various war time conflicts and snapshots therein which gives you a extra second or two to ponder. Before I'd started doing the count, in my mind I was thinking the count would be twice as long. The story itself was decent. I'm still trying to digest it to determine if this is a character I want to follow. The way the story is told gives you zero sense of the character, only what went into creating him. On the other hand, what makes up the characters background is fairly interesting so it's probably worth another look to see if the ongoing story has more character emphasis to make me care. A couple of nit picks about the actual story telling. One, we never get a sense as to the narrator's importance at any time during the story. As the main voice in the book, I would liked to have had a better idea as to who/what he was. We don't learn his name until the 19th page. So I'm currently assuming he means nothing in the ongoing. Two, the way the narrator is ended seemed more than a bit callus considering this appears to be a military initiative. Again, maybe I'll get more context when I read part of the ongoing.
The Art. Good. Solid. Nice panel layout and design with strong line work which I tend to favor. The third scene is 8 pages long with very little dialog involved so the art and artistic storying telling has to carry the book during that time. He doesn't miss a beat with the panels laid out in such a way as to dictate the pace through the action. The ability to create pacing strictly using art is what makes a comic book artist special.
Lettering and coloring. Gotta take exception to the lettering. While it was completely appropriate to the story, what I think was a marginally smaller font on the yellow notepad background was unreadable on my iPad in full page mode. I constantly had to zoom to read the dialog and eventually gave up and went to the guided view mode in order enjoy the story. Again, the font choice and background made perfect sense but failed in this particular execution. The color rendering was professionally done and fit the art nicely.
My ROI: 8 out of 10. The one and done nature of the story and the fact it's an origin story makes this an easy revisit. The art is easy on the eyes and some of the panels deserve more study.
Recommending: Yes. It's an origin and a one off story. If someone likes it, they have the best jumping in point, and if they don't, there no loose ends.
Green Lantern Corps #24 (DC Comics)
Green Lantern Corps 24 (DC Comics) < Read 15 Feb 2014>
Release Date : December 2013
Issue Title ''Lights Out Part II, Oa's Last Stand"
Editor : Chris Conroy
Writer : Van Jensen
Artist : Bernard Chang
Inker : --
Letter : Dave Sharpe
Colorist : Marco Maiolo
Cover Price : 2.99 (14 cts per page) (2.3 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 21
Panels : 128
Dialog Total : 1477
Caption Total : 6
Panels <= 10 Words : 76
Panels per Page : 6
Words per Panel : 11.6
Words per Page : 70.6
Median Words per Page: 73
Story Time Span: Less than an hour. Probably 10 - 20 minutes max.
Scenes : 1. Pretty much a running battle with look ins on various actors.
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology application in full page mode.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. A modest 1483 words total. Actually considering very little happens throughout this battle, the word count is reasonably high. Given this is the second part of a story arc, it could have used more words to set up what was going on as well as better introductions to the players. Had I not been familiar with the Lantern lore and read the previous parts of this story arc, I would have been really lost. As it was, there were some things going on in the art work that I had no clue how they related to the rest of the story. I'm not familiar with this writer and with Robert Venditti 'co-plotting' I assume he's relatively new. Everything was pretty much a 'by the numbers' story thus there was nothing really wrong with it. Given that he was tasked to write part 2 of a cross over, I won't hold this work against him. It touched several characters but at no time made an impression with the characters. One thing a book like this would perhaps benefit from would be the 'character boxes' that were used in the Legion of Superheroes comics which would give a very short descriptor of the character. The corps also has a legion of characters and they don't have the benefit of distinct uniforms and powers like the legion. Other than Kiliwog, Jordan, Rayner, and Stewart, some of the relevance of the other characters was completely lost on me.
One more sour note was a missed edit on page eight where two words ran together. Hate stuttering on a story that I'm already having to work to stay engaged with.
The Art. I've like Bernard Chang's art in virtually everything else I've seen him do. Not so much here. Wasn't bad but I think the Green Lantern books really warrant a more detailed/hyper/kinetic style. Still loved the design work and story telling approach used throughout. Worth studying.
Lettering and coloring. Lettering for the book was good. Nicely done throughout and made the story feel like it was taking place in space. Also stood out so I had no problem reading the book in full page mode on the tablet. The coloring on the other hand lost me in a few places. The colorist was using tones to provide some depth on Chang's art and on occasion it would miss the mark and actually change the look of the character. Chang's line work is fairly minimalist and the color depth is needed at times but the colorist may have over reached in a few instances. However, the colorist did do a great job working with the constructs and light projections which is critical to these books.
My ROI: 1 out of 10. This story didn't need to be 21 pages in length. Could have easily been 3 or 4 pages and fit into another book. I don't read the Green Lantern Corps books (anymore) on a regular basis and this left me no reason to want to read it. Hopefully regular readers didn't have their story interrupted for this.
Recommending: No. If someones not reading the story or book, they would be clueless if handed this book.
Release Date : December 2013
Issue Title ''Lights Out Part II, Oa's Last Stand"
Editor : Chris Conroy
Writer : Van Jensen
Artist : Bernard Chang
Inker : --
Letter : Dave Sharpe
Colorist : Marco Maiolo
Cover Price : 2.99 (14 cts per page) (2.3 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 21
Panels : 128
Dialog Total : 1477
Caption Total : 6
Panels <= 10 Words : 76
Panels per Page : 6
Words per Panel : 11.6
Words per Page : 70.6
Median Words per Page: 73
Story Time Span: Less than an hour. Probably 10 - 20 minutes max.
Scenes : 1. Pretty much a running battle with look ins on various actors.
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology application in full page mode.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. A modest 1483 words total. Actually considering very little happens throughout this battle, the word count is reasonably high. Given this is the second part of a story arc, it could have used more words to set up what was going on as well as better introductions to the players. Had I not been familiar with the Lantern lore and read the previous parts of this story arc, I would have been really lost. As it was, there were some things going on in the art work that I had no clue how they related to the rest of the story. I'm not familiar with this writer and with Robert Venditti 'co-plotting' I assume he's relatively new. Everything was pretty much a 'by the numbers' story thus there was nothing really wrong with it. Given that he was tasked to write part 2 of a cross over, I won't hold this work against him. It touched several characters but at no time made an impression with the characters. One thing a book like this would perhaps benefit from would be the 'character boxes' that were used in the Legion of Superheroes comics which would give a very short descriptor of the character. The corps also has a legion of characters and they don't have the benefit of distinct uniforms and powers like the legion. Other than Kiliwog, Jordan, Rayner, and Stewart, some of the relevance of the other characters was completely lost on me.
One more sour note was a missed edit on page eight where two words ran together. Hate stuttering on a story that I'm already having to work to stay engaged with.
The Art. I've like Bernard Chang's art in virtually everything else I've seen him do. Not so much here. Wasn't bad but I think the Green Lantern books really warrant a more detailed/hyper/kinetic style. Still loved the design work and story telling approach used throughout. Worth studying.
Lettering and coloring. Lettering for the book was good. Nicely done throughout and made the story feel like it was taking place in space. Also stood out so I had no problem reading the book in full page mode on the tablet. The coloring on the other hand lost me in a few places. The colorist was using tones to provide some depth on Chang's art and on occasion it would miss the mark and actually change the look of the character. Chang's line work is fairly minimalist and the color depth is needed at times but the colorist may have over reached in a few instances. However, the colorist did do a great job working with the constructs and light projections which is critical to these books.
My ROI: 1 out of 10. This story didn't need to be 21 pages in length. Could have easily been 3 or 4 pages and fit into another book. I don't read the Green Lantern Corps books (anymore) on a regular basis and this left me no reason to want to read it. Hopefully regular readers didn't have their story interrupted for this.
Recommending: No. If someones not reading the story or book, they would be clueless if handed this book.
Sixth Gun #1 (Oni Press)
The Sixth Gun 1 (Oni Press) < Read 22 Feb 2014>
Release Date : July 2010
Issue Title '' "
Editor : James Lucas Jones
Writer : Cullen Bunn
Artist : Brian Hurtt
Inker : --
Letter : Brian Hurrt
Colorist : --
Cover Price : 3.99 (16.6 cts per page) (2.8 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 24
Panels : 144
Dialog Total : 1600
Caption Total : 391
Panels <= 10 Words : 77
Panels per Page : 6
Words per Panel : 13.9
Words per Page : 83
Median Words per Page: 69
Story Time Span: 2 - 4 Days.
Scenes : 6.
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology application in full page mode.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. A reasonable count of 1991 words. A very effective mix of dialog and caption text to set scenes, provide atmosphere, and quickly get the reader, me, into this world. While no single character is given any depth, each has enough page time to give you a desire to learn more. The captions are an unnamed narrator giving 'color' for back story. As a prose reader, I really enjoy these types of additions. The writer could have forced the words into a dialog with effort however, it would have slowed down the pace of the story as well as introducing characters that weren't needed. I wish more comics would take this approach rather than putting descriptive dialog into a characters mouth where it really serves no purpose other than to inform the reader. The writing here is exceptionally tight with every word is moving the story along. A lot of territory is covered in this opening issue even though more than half the panels have less than ten words in them. Golf clap.
The Art. Worked. The nature of the story, supernatural with gun play, could have been done in a more detailed style with viscera flying every which way but the art kept it fairly subdued thereby allowing readers of any age (within reason) to enjoy this story. Gun shots were primarily loud noises with the occasional small bloch of dark ink to represent blood. Harkens nicely back to 60's / 70's style (maybe 80s) style of bloodshed. Or for TV folk, Gunsmoke style shoot outs. I'm not saying that a more detailed/gory style wouldn't work, probably would, but by adapting this style it leaves the story open to more readers. Also, because your not trying to pick out body parts, you do tend to read and let the story flow naturally instead of studying the art.
Lettering and coloring. Not much to comment on here on way or the other.
My ROI: 8 out of 10. I would have gone higher with the rating but the comic didn't tell a complete story. It did tell a very compelling first part though. Compelling enough that I got the first two trades to see where it goes.
Recommending: Yes. I think any comic reader would enjoy this book as well as a number of traditional prose readers.
Release Date : July 2010
Issue Title '' "
Editor : James Lucas Jones
Writer : Cullen Bunn
Artist : Brian Hurtt
Inker : --
Letter : Brian Hurrt
Colorist : --
Cover Price : 3.99 (16.6 cts per page) (2.8 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 24
Panels : 144
Dialog Total : 1600
Caption Total : 391
Panels <= 10 Words : 77
Panels per Page : 6
Words per Panel : 13.9
Words per Page : 83
Median Words per Page: 69
Story Time Span: 2 - 4 Days.
Scenes : 6.
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology application in full page mode.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. A reasonable count of 1991 words. A very effective mix of dialog and caption text to set scenes, provide atmosphere, and quickly get the reader, me, into this world. While no single character is given any depth, each has enough page time to give you a desire to learn more. The captions are an unnamed narrator giving 'color' for back story. As a prose reader, I really enjoy these types of additions. The writer could have forced the words into a dialog with effort however, it would have slowed down the pace of the story as well as introducing characters that weren't needed. I wish more comics would take this approach rather than putting descriptive dialog into a characters mouth where it really serves no purpose other than to inform the reader. The writing here is exceptionally tight with every word is moving the story along. A lot of territory is covered in this opening issue even though more than half the panels have less than ten words in them. Golf clap.
The Art. Worked. The nature of the story, supernatural with gun play, could have been done in a more detailed style with viscera flying every which way but the art kept it fairly subdued thereby allowing readers of any age (within reason) to enjoy this story. Gun shots were primarily loud noises with the occasional small bloch of dark ink to represent blood. Harkens nicely back to 60's / 70's style (maybe 80s) style of bloodshed. Or for TV folk, Gunsmoke style shoot outs. I'm not saying that a more detailed/gory style wouldn't work, probably would, but by adapting this style it leaves the story open to more readers. Also, because your not trying to pick out body parts, you do tend to read and let the story flow naturally instead of studying the art.
Lettering and coloring. Not much to comment on here on way or the other.
My ROI: 8 out of 10. I would have gone higher with the rating but the comic didn't tell a complete story. It did tell a very compelling first part though. Compelling enough that I got the first two trades to see where it goes.
Recommending: Yes. I think any comic reader would enjoy this book as well as a number of traditional prose readers.
Amazing Spider-man 198 (Marvel Comics)
Amazing Spider-man 198 (Marvel Comics) < Read 2 March 2014>
Release Date : November 1979
Issue Title '' Mysterio is Deadlier by the Dozen"
Editor : Marv Wolfman
Writer : Marv Wolfman
Artist : Sal Buscema & Jim Mooney
Inker : --
Letter : Irv Watanabe
Colorist : Glynis Wein
Cover Price : 0.40 (2.6 cts per page) (0.3 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 17
Panels : 124
Dialog Total : 2761
Caption Total : 170
Panels <= 10 Words : 20
Panels per Page : 7.3
Words per Panel : 23.6
Words per Page : 172
Median Words per Page: 155
Story Time Span: Less than 24 Hours
Scenes : 7.
Was read in Digital Form as a PDF in the Goodreader app on an iPad.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. As with most of this era, it's brimming with words at 2931 in it's meager 17 pages. Of these, 170 are used in caption where they serve the purpose of bringing us up to speed where the story starts, an occasional time and place setting, and a little narrative occasional. And I still appreciate the narrative. A very concise 17 words in the caption on the opening page, gives the reader footing in the story by explaining where the hero currently is and how he wound up in his current situation. I find today's Marvel comics very irksome when they devote an entire non-graphic page to accomplish the same thing, typically with no better effect. A lot of the dialog in the book really is unnecessary as it's spider-man talking aloud to himself explaining his thoughts and actions. Very old school and didn't really put me off as much as I thought it might. The dialog between the Spider-man and Mysterio is littered with bwah hah hah dialog. Again, didn't put me off and is something a younger reader might even appreciate. Yes, this book would/should have been considered kid friendly. No blood, sex, or awkward situations to explain. Even when Mysterio should rightfully have killed a character, he instead knocks him out with chloroform because he might have useful information. Today's comics would probably have resolved the same scenario with a single bullet to the head complete with splatter. One of the more interesting things I found about this story was the 'reveal' of Mysterio. Even though he's on the cover and in the title, his name and identify are still not spoken until he dons his outfits and comes face to face with spider-man. Who up to this point has old referred to him as 'my old enemy.' Not sure why Wolfman took this tact but because you, the reader, knew it was coming, the reveal is pretty much wasted. Oh, and let me say, Covers with words, titles, and a scene of the interior action you will actual see when you read the story, priceless.
The Art. Can't really comment too much here. Marvel still had a 'house style' and the art within followed it. I like/liked Sal Buscema's art when I was reading back in the 60's/70's, not so much Mooney's. Mooney's isn't bad, but his spider-man mask work was never quite right. Though both artists are listed on this book, the finished work appears to be primarily Mooney's pencils/inks.
Lettering and coloring. This seems to have been a time in the comic book industry when using a period in the dialog was doable. Unfortunately for this book, the exclamation point is used way too much/incorrectly. A lot of what should have been quieter dialog ended with exclamation points which really contributed to the bwah hah hah feeling it had. If the periods hadn't been mixed in occasionally, I might not have noticed this but as it was I kept getting the evil arch villain voice in my head.
Name Banter : (Throwing this in going forward as at least the older books were full of names/descriptions the characters used to refer to each other. While it feels silly, a younger reader, and maybe older, can develop quite the vocabulary. Hopefully never using it on the playground or in the office) Spidey, Doc, Stupid Cretinous Dolt, Dolt, Pal, My Old Enemy, Goons, Creep, turncoat traitor, Crud, Webbed Friend, Webbed Foe, My fleet footed Friend, Web-weaver,
My ROI: 6 out of 10. Even though it ends on a 'cliff hanger,' it's a book that is easily re-readable. You don't feel left out because you didn't read the story before this book and even though it ends on a cliff hanger, the nature of the ending wouldn't leave an adult wondering. A young child maybe.
Recommending: Yes for Spider-man fans looking to get completeness in the Spider-man saga or any child ages 5 - 8.
Release Date : November 1979
Issue Title '' Mysterio is Deadlier by the Dozen"
Editor : Marv Wolfman
Writer : Marv Wolfman
Artist : Sal Buscema & Jim Mooney
Inker : --
Letter : Irv Watanabe
Colorist : Glynis Wein
Cover Price : 0.40 (2.6 cts per page) (0.3 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 17
Panels : 124
Dialog Total : 2761
Caption Total : 170
Panels <= 10 Words : 20
Panels per Page : 7.3
Words per Panel : 23.6
Words per Page : 172
Median Words per Page: 155
Story Time Span: Less than 24 Hours
Scenes : 7.
Was read in Digital Form as a PDF in the Goodreader app on an iPad.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. As with most of this era, it's brimming with words at 2931 in it's meager 17 pages. Of these, 170 are used in caption where they serve the purpose of bringing us up to speed where the story starts, an occasional time and place setting, and a little narrative occasional. And I still appreciate the narrative. A very concise 17 words in the caption on the opening page, gives the reader footing in the story by explaining where the hero currently is and how he wound up in his current situation. I find today's Marvel comics very irksome when they devote an entire non-graphic page to accomplish the same thing, typically with no better effect. A lot of the dialog in the book really is unnecessary as it's spider-man talking aloud to himself explaining his thoughts and actions. Very old school and didn't really put me off as much as I thought it might. The dialog between the Spider-man and Mysterio is littered with bwah hah hah dialog. Again, didn't put me off and is something a younger reader might even appreciate. Yes, this book would/should have been considered kid friendly. No blood, sex, or awkward situations to explain. Even when Mysterio should rightfully have killed a character, he instead knocks him out with chloroform because he might have useful information. Today's comics would probably have resolved the same scenario with a single bullet to the head complete with splatter. One of the more interesting things I found about this story was the 'reveal' of Mysterio. Even though he's on the cover and in the title, his name and identify are still not spoken until he dons his outfits and comes face to face with spider-man. Who up to this point has old referred to him as 'my old enemy.' Not sure why Wolfman took this tact but because you, the reader, knew it was coming, the reveal is pretty much wasted. Oh, and let me say, Covers with words, titles, and a scene of the interior action you will actual see when you read the story, priceless.
The Art. Can't really comment too much here. Marvel still had a 'house style' and the art within followed it. I like/liked Sal Buscema's art when I was reading back in the 60's/70's, not so much Mooney's. Mooney's isn't bad, but his spider-man mask work was never quite right. Though both artists are listed on this book, the finished work appears to be primarily Mooney's pencils/inks.
Lettering and coloring. This seems to have been a time in the comic book industry when using a period in the dialog was doable. Unfortunately for this book, the exclamation point is used way too much/incorrectly. A lot of what should have been quieter dialog ended with exclamation points which really contributed to the bwah hah hah feeling it had. If the periods hadn't been mixed in occasionally, I might not have noticed this but as it was I kept getting the evil arch villain voice in my head.
Name Banter : (Throwing this in going forward as at least the older books were full of names/descriptions the characters used to refer to each other. While it feels silly, a younger reader, and maybe older, can develop quite the vocabulary. Hopefully never using it on the playground or in the office) Spidey, Doc, Stupid Cretinous Dolt, Dolt, Pal, My Old Enemy, Goons, Creep, turncoat traitor, Crud, Webbed Friend, Webbed Foe, My fleet footed Friend, Web-weaver,
My ROI: 6 out of 10. Even though it ends on a 'cliff hanger,' it's a book that is easily re-readable. You don't feel left out because you didn't read the story before this book and even though it ends on a cliff hanger, the nature of the ending wouldn't leave an adult wondering. A young child maybe.
Recommending: Yes for Spider-man fans looking to get completeness in the Spider-man saga or any child ages 5 - 8.
Mister Terrific #8 (DC Comics)
Mister Terrific 8 (DC Comics) < Read 8 March 2014>
Release Date : June 2012
Issue Title '' The Truth is out there"
Editor : Joey Cavalieri & Kate Stewart
Writer : Eric Wallace
Artist : Gianluca Gugliotta
Inker : Wayne Faucher
Letter : Dave Sharpe
Colorist : Michael Atiyeh
Cover Price : 2.99 (15 cts per page) (4 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 75
Dialog Total : 2405
Caption Total : 37
Panels <= 10 Words : 19
Panels per Page : 3.9
Words per Panel : 32.5
Words per Page : 122
Median Words per Page: 97
Story Time Span: 24 - 48 Hours
Scenes : 6.
Was read in Digital Form in the Kindle app on an iPad. Was read as part of the trade.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. As this was the last issue in the series, the word count is somewhat escalated at 2405. Not overly so if one assume 2200 is the top end for a modern comic. But within the story, I believe you can tell when the writer was told his series would be ending. The first ten pages of the story are fairly typical with usually less that one hundred words per page. However, the climax of the fight seen with the villain of the piece is very swift an occurs on page 9 and everything quickly shifts to a different gear. Over the next 8 pages, the writer lays down on average two hundred words per page, most of it exposition, to be able to get from the fight to the eventual conclusion of the series and send Mister Terrific on his way to Earth-2. Reading this in back to back issues makes it very apparent the writer was not initially writing with anything like this ending in mind. Those eight pages with hundreds of words feel very much like a writer concluding a book that they never had an ending in mind. However this story, like the seven issues preceding it was to say the least, disappointing. Mister Terrific was the book I looked forward to the most when the New 52 initiative was launched by DC. And it was an incredible let down for me. From the abysmal redesign of his costume, to the occasional attempt to leverage him as a 'black' superhero, the book lost me at issue 1, about page 4. Mister Terrific was, in my mind's eye, the DC answer to a modern day Doc Savage. Smart, athletic, and quietly effective. Why DC editorial felt this new direction would be well received makes me scratch my head, among other things.
The Art. Is reasonably good. Can't say I'd buy the book strictly for the art but it wouldn't chase me away. Without the inks and colors applied (their were pencil pages in the TPB), I thought it looked very good. Think this may be an instance of the inker actually taking a little away from the pencils. Nonetheless, the lines were clean and sharp, a style I prefer in my super-hero books. The artist didn't give us a lot of panels, only 75, but this could have be necessary given the amount of dialog that had to be included in the book. On the pages exceeding the two hundred count, the pages felt cramped. I may also be a bit biased by Mister Terrific's outfit. Just not liking it. At all.
Lettering and coloring. Not too much to notice here which is the desired affect. Did I say how much I don't like Mister Terrific's outfit ? The colors are bad on top of the design. Why the Blue and Red T mask instead of his old jet black which gave the character a much cooler look ? I kept on flashing to Captain America's villain, Nuke.
Name Banter : Handsome, Fool, Technological Monstrosity, Pal.
My ROI: 1 out of 10. Too exposition heavy and other than Mister Terrific shunting to Earth-2, nothing happens of note.
Recommending: No.
Release Date : June 2012
Issue Title '' The Truth is out there"
Editor : Joey Cavalieri & Kate Stewart
Writer : Eric Wallace
Artist : Gianluca Gugliotta
Inker : Wayne Faucher
Letter : Dave Sharpe
Colorist : Michael Atiyeh
Cover Price : 2.99 (15 cts per page) (4 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 75
Dialog Total : 2405
Caption Total : 37
Panels <= 10 Words : 19
Panels per Page : 3.9
Words per Panel : 32.5
Words per Page : 122
Median Words per Page: 97
Story Time Span: 24 - 48 Hours
Scenes : 6.
Was read in Digital Form in the Kindle app on an iPad. Was read as part of the trade.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. As this was the last issue in the series, the word count is somewhat escalated at 2405. Not overly so if one assume 2200 is the top end for a modern comic. But within the story, I believe you can tell when the writer was told his series would be ending. The first ten pages of the story are fairly typical with usually less that one hundred words per page. However, the climax of the fight seen with the villain of the piece is very swift an occurs on page 9 and everything quickly shifts to a different gear. Over the next 8 pages, the writer lays down on average two hundred words per page, most of it exposition, to be able to get from the fight to the eventual conclusion of the series and send Mister Terrific on his way to Earth-2. Reading this in back to back issues makes it very apparent the writer was not initially writing with anything like this ending in mind. Those eight pages with hundreds of words feel very much like a writer concluding a book that they never had an ending in mind. However this story, like the seven issues preceding it was to say the least, disappointing. Mister Terrific was the book I looked forward to the most when the New 52 initiative was launched by DC. And it was an incredible let down for me. From the abysmal redesign of his costume, to the occasional attempt to leverage him as a 'black' superhero, the book lost me at issue 1, about page 4. Mister Terrific was, in my mind's eye, the DC answer to a modern day Doc Savage. Smart, athletic, and quietly effective. Why DC editorial felt this new direction would be well received makes me scratch my head, among other things.
The Art. Is reasonably good. Can't say I'd buy the book strictly for the art but it wouldn't chase me away. Without the inks and colors applied (their were pencil pages in the TPB), I thought it looked very good. Think this may be an instance of the inker actually taking a little away from the pencils. Nonetheless, the lines were clean and sharp, a style I prefer in my super-hero books. The artist didn't give us a lot of panels, only 75, but this could have be necessary given the amount of dialog that had to be included in the book. On the pages exceeding the two hundred count, the pages felt cramped. I may also be a bit biased by Mister Terrific's outfit. Just not liking it. At all.
Lettering and coloring. Not too much to notice here which is the desired affect. Did I say how much I don't like Mister Terrific's outfit ? The colors are bad on top of the design. Why the Blue and Red T mask instead of his old jet black which gave the character a much cooler look ? I kept on flashing to Captain America's villain, Nuke.
Name Banter : Handsome, Fool, Technological Monstrosity, Pal.
My ROI: 1 out of 10. Too exposition heavy and other than Mister Terrific shunting to Earth-2, nothing happens of note.
Recommending: No.
Avengers A.I. #1 (Marvel Comics)
Avengers A.I. #1 (Marvel Comics) < Read 15 March 2014>
Release Date : Sept 2013
Issue Title '' "
Editor : Lauren Sanhovitch
Writer : Samuel Ryan Humphries
Artist : Andre Lima Araujo
Inker : - None listed -
Letter : Clayton Cowles
Colorist : Franh D'Armata
Cover Price : 2.99 (15 cts per page) (2.5 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 119
Dialog Total : 1403
Caption Total : 34
Panels <= 10 Words : 73
Panels per Page : 6
Words per Panel : 12
Words per Page : 72
Median Words per Page: 60
Story Time Span: Less than 24 Hours with Flashback scenes
Scenes : 7.
Was read in Digital Form in the Marvel Unlimited app on an iPad. And let me take a moment to say what a Great Deal this seems to be. At least initially, I've only been using it for two days. I opted in for the first month for 99 cents. I'd tried the app a couple of times in the past and always found it clunky, slow, and generally a huge detriment to the enjoyment of reading a comic. The current version suffers from none of the previous technical issues. Not to say it isn't without bugs as it has them but it's a marked improvement over the previous versions. Since I opted in I've been doing lots of reading (Completed the Age of Ultron omnibus equivalent) and at first blush believe this will 1) save me money on future purchases; 2) allow me to select trades that are worth purchasing, and 3) give Marvel a reader returning to the fold as I'd pretty much abandoned them after their 'pricing elasticity' kicked in along with the infinite loop of reboots.
If you want to give someone the gift of comics, especially a younger someone who's more apt to read them digitally if at all, this would really be the way to go. Currently cheaper than a year of Netflix or Huluplus, or Amazon Prime.
Now onward.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. Really light on the word count given this is a number one issue and meant to introduce the team and it's purpose. More than 25% of the words are spread across pages 4 & 5. It even reads lighter than the word count due to the large number of panels, more than half containing 10 words of fewer. What is on the page isn't bad. The use of captions is strictly limited to setting time and place. The dialog worked within the context of the story but as a long time reader of the marvel line and these characters, the portrayal of them didn't work for me. The dialog is very light-hearted for the most part which is fairly counter to how Hank Pym and the Vision are usually treated. I had just finished reading Age of Ultron A.I. so I understood to some degree the change in Pym's persona though not the vision's. And Pym's persona was really too heavy on the humor attempts. Coming from a different character it would have played much better for me. For someone not steeped in Pym's history, this probably would have read just fine. The addition of the Doombot to the team seems to be primarily for humor. Humphries one liners and gags for the most part will give the reader an occasional chuckle though using these characters makes it a much harder delivery. Not sure if this series has been cancelled yet but suspect it will be sometime in the near future. It really doesn't fit anywhere within the Avengers narrative if this first issue is indicative of what future issues are going to be. I do hope to run across Humphries's writing in other comics as he does appear to have a handle on comic humor as it can be played in the super hero genre.
The Art. The art for the book is clean and the facial features are generally expressive which is needed for the style of writing being done. There are a few places where the proportions appear off to me but only once did it actually distract me in the story (Page 17). I may not have even noticed it except the dialog from the character, the Vision, was a bit jarring (Since when does the Vision say "The REAL action is over here.") This is not an artist I would actively hunt out but also I would not actively avoid. Had this been an issue of runaways it would have been spot on. One bias I carried throughout the book was the depiction of the Vision. I don't know if how he's being drawn here was carried over from another story but the outfit was well … wrong. It was representative enough of his old outfit but the updates just weren't appropriate to the character.
Lettering and coloring. Not too much to notice here which is the desired affect. The lettering was easily readable with primary words bold and the coloring was light thus matching the story tone.
Name Banter : Simpering Peons, Mewling Brat, Dolt, Dude. (Mostly provided by the Doombot)
My ROI: 5 out of 10. Wasn't a bad story but definitely reads as the prologue or introduction of a story. We gather the team, take care of a minor threat, and are presented with the next bread crumb to buy the next issue. With the Marvel Unlimited subscription I'll read whatever issues are available but wouldn't run to the store to get them, buy the trade, or even bother to get them out of the back issue bins of any LCS that still had them.
Recommending: Can't as it's just not a take on these characters that I feel does them justice.
Release Date : Sept 2013
Issue Title '' "
Editor : Lauren Sanhovitch
Writer : Samuel Ryan Humphries
Artist : Andre Lima Araujo
Inker : - None listed -
Letter : Clayton Cowles
Colorist : Franh D'Armata
Cover Price : 2.99 (15 cts per page) (2.5 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 119
Dialog Total : 1403
Caption Total : 34
Panels <= 10 Words : 73
Panels per Page : 6
Words per Panel : 12
Words per Page : 72
Median Words per Page: 60
Story Time Span: Less than 24 Hours with Flashback scenes
Scenes : 7.
Was read in Digital Form in the Marvel Unlimited app on an iPad. And let me take a moment to say what a Great Deal this seems to be. At least initially, I've only been using it for two days. I opted in for the first month for 99 cents. I'd tried the app a couple of times in the past and always found it clunky, slow, and generally a huge detriment to the enjoyment of reading a comic. The current version suffers from none of the previous technical issues. Not to say it isn't without bugs as it has them but it's a marked improvement over the previous versions. Since I opted in I've been doing lots of reading (Completed the Age of Ultron omnibus equivalent) and at first blush believe this will 1) save me money on future purchases; 2) allow me to select trades that are worth purchasing, and 3) give Marvel a reader returning to the fold as I'd pretty much abandoned them after their 'pricing elasticity' kicked in along with the infinite loop of reboots.
If you want to give someone the gift of comics, especially a younger someone who's more apt to read them digitally if at all, this would really be the way to go. Currently cheaper than a year of Netflix or Huluplus, or Amazon Prime.
Now onward.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. Really light on the word count given this is a number one issue and meant to introduce the team and it's purpose. More than 25% of the words are spread across pages 4 & 5. It even reads lighter than the word count due to the large number of panels, more than half containing 10 words of fewer. What is on the page isn't bad. The use of captions is strictly limited to setting time and place. The dialog worked within the context of the story but as a long time reader of the marvel line and these characters, the portrayal of them didn't work for me. The dialog is very light-hearted for the most part which is fairly counter to how Hank Pym and the Vision are usually treated. I had just finished reading Age of Ultron A.I. so I understood to some degree the change in Pym's persona though not the vision's. And Pym's persona was really too heavy on the humor attempts. Coming from a different character it would have played much better for me. For someone not steeped in Pym's history, this probably would have read just fine. The addition of the Doombot to the team seems to be primarily for humor. Humphries one liners and gags for the most part will give the reader an occasional chuckle though using these characters makes it a much harder delivery. Not sure if this series has been cancelled yet but suspect it will be sometime in the near future. It really doesn't fit anywhere within the Avengers narrative if this first issue is indicative of what future issues are going to be. I do hope to run across Humphries's writing in other comics as he does appear to have a handle on comic humor as it can be played in the super hero genre.
The Art. The art for the book is clean and the facial features are generally expressive which is needed for the style of writing being done. There are a few places where the proportions appear off to me but only once did it actually distract me in the story (Page 17). I may not have even noticed it except the dialog from the character, the Vision, was a bit jarring (Since when does the Vision say "The REAL action is over here.") This is not an artist I would actively hunt out but also I would not actively avoid. Had this been an issue of runaways it would have been spot on. One bias I carried throughout the book was the depiction of the Vision. I don't know if how he's being drawn here was carried over from another story but the outfit was well … wrong. It was representative enough of his old outfit but the updates just weren't appropriate to the character.
Lettering and coloring. Not too much to notice here which is the desired affect. The lettering was easily readable with primary words bold and the coloring was light thus matching the story tone.
Name Banter : Simpering Peons, Mewling Brat, Dolt, Dude. (Mostly provided by the Doombot)
My ROI: 5 out of 10. Wasn't a bad story but definitely reads as the prologue or introduction of a story. We gather the team, take care of a minor threat, and are presented with the next bread crumb to buy the next issue. With the Marvel Unlimited subscription I'll read whatever issues are available but wouldn't run to the store to get them, buy the trade, or even bother to get them out of the back issue bins of any LCS that still had them.
Recommending: Can't as it's just not a take on these characters that I feel does them justice.
Fatale #1 (Image Comics)
Fatale #1 (Image Comics) < Read 21 March 2014>
Cover Date : January 2012
Issue Title ''Book One Death Chases Me "
Editor : - None listed -
Writer : Ed Brubaker
Artist : Sean Phillips
Inker : - None listed -
Letter : - None Listed -
Colorist : Dave Stewart
Cover Price : 3.50 (14.6 cts per page) (2.4 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 24
Panels : 145
Dialog Total : 1461
Caption Total : 158
Panels <= 10 Words : 79
Panels per Page : 6
Words per Panel : 11.2
Words per Page : 67.5
Median Words per Page: 68
Story Time Span: Spans several years
Scenes : 9.
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology App, full page mode, on a 9.7" iPad.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. At 1619 words, both captions & dialog, the book strictly in word count comes in light. Even more so than usual as this is 24 pages of book instead of the typical twenty pages. However, the way the dialog is spaced with the art turns this into a reasonably dense read or at least gives it that feeling. A good part of the 'dialog' is actually voice over by the various characters in the scenes. There were a couple of pages towards the end of the book where the owner of the voice over became unclear and I wound up attributing the words to caption. Not sure if the writer lost the point of view or if he meant the words to be strictly color to add to the mood. I generally like Brubaker's work in comics and for the most part, enjoyed this book. But like a bowl of Captain Crunch, it really was all sugar, no enough substance to make you feel like you'd gotten a meal. The story introduces at least four characters which may or may not be the central player(s) in our story but at the end of the book, you still aren't sure where the story is headed or which character is leading you there. I feel that any number 1, comic, chapter, TV episode, movie scene, etc should give you an idea of where the story is going such that you want to be around for the next chapter. And while I enjoyed 'the read', the story as presented in the first 24 pages didn't compel me to find the next book. I did give me the comfortable feeling that I wouldn't be disappointed by buying the books.
The Art. Appropriate to the story being told. More importantly, the artist's story telling technique was spot on for this book. Even when word's were in short supply, the story being shown via the numerous panels kept the momentum going. At 145 panels, you are getting a good amount of art which isn't being wasted. The choice of scenes and angles let my imagination easily fill in the frames that would have occurred as you cut from panel to panel. It's that technique that gives you the feel of a dense read when in fact, the words are not what's driving the story forward.
Lettering and coloring. No one was listed as the letterer so I'll assume that Sean Phillips did that as well. Again, it fit well with the story being told and didn't obscure the art. Along with the coloring, which was again spot on with the washes being used, enhanced the story and provided mood while reading it.
Name Banter : Nothing to be had.
My ROI: 5 out of 10. I wanted to go lower on this book due to it's inconclusive nature and at the same time wanted to go higher as the story telling really is very good. Thus, I sit square in the middle. A book I wouldn't mind re-reading but not one I feel compelled to re-read. Books like this should exist in every series … but not necessarily as the book launching the series.
Recommending: No. At least not to some one who simply wants to read a good story. I could recommend it as how to tell a story through art, color and story pacing.
Cover Date : January 2012
Issue Title ''Book One Death Chases Me "
Editor : - None listed -
Writer : Ed Brubaker
Artist : Sean Phillips
Inker : - None listed -
Letter : - None Listed -
Colorist : Dave Stewart
Cover Price : 3.50 (14.6 cts per page) (2.4 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 24
Panels : 145
Dialog Total : 1461
Caption Total : 158
Panels <= 10 Words : 79
Panels per Page : 6
Words per Panel : 11.2
Words per Page : 67.5
Median Words per Page: 68
Story Time Span: Spans several years
Scenes : 9.
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology App, full page mode, on a 9.7" iPad.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. At 1619 words, both captions & dialog, the book strictly in word count comes in light. Even more so than usual as this is 24 pages of book instead of the typical twenty pages. However, the way the dialog is spaced with the art turns this into a reasonably dense read or at least gives it that feeling. A good part of the 'dialog' is actually voice over by the various characters in the scenes. There were a couple of pages towards the end of the book where the owner of the voice over became unclear and I wound up attributing the words to caption. Not sure if the writer lost the point of view or if he meant the words to be strictly color to add to the mood. I generally like Brubaker's work in comics and for the most part, enjoyed this book. But like a bowl of Captain Crunch, it really was all sugar, no enough substance to make you feel like you'd gotten a meal. The story introduces at least four characters which may or may not be the central player(s) in our story but at the end of the book, you still aren't sure where the story is headed or which character is leading you there. I feel that any number 1, comic, chapter, TV episode, movie scene, etc should give you an idea of where the story is going such that you want to be around for the next chapter. And while I enjoyed 'the read', the story as presented in the first 24 pages didn't compel me to find the next book. I did give me the comfortable feeling that I wouldn't be disappointed by buying the books.
The Art. Appropriate to the story being told. More importantly, the artist's story telling technique was spot on for this book. Even when word's were in short supply, the story being shown via the numerous panels kept the momentum going. At 145 panels, you are getting a good amount of art which isn't being wasted. The choice of scenes and angles let my imagination easily fill in the frames that would have occurred as you cut from panel to panel. It's that technique that gives you the feel of a dense read when in fact, the words are not what's driving the story forward.
Lettering and coloring. No one was listed as the letterer so I'll assume that Sean Phillips did that as well. Again, it fit well with the story being told and didn't obscure the art. Along with the coloring, which was again spot on with the washes being used, enhanced the story and provided mood while reading it.
Name Banter : Nothing to be had.
My ROI: 5 out of 10. I wanted to go lower on this book due to it's inconclusive nature and at the same time wanted to go higher as the story telling really is very good. Thus, I sit square in the middle. A book I wouldn't mind re-reading but not one I feel compelled to re-read. Books like this should exist in every series … but not necessarily as the book launching the series.
Recommending: No. At least not to some one who simply wants to read a good story. I could recommend it as how to tell a story through art, color and story pacing.
Walking Dead 115 (Image Comics)
Walking Dead #115 (Image Comics) < Read 29 March 2014>
Cover Date : October 2013
Issue Title ''All Out War Chapter 1 of 12 "
Editor : Sean Mackiewicz
Writer : Robert Kirkman
Artist : Charlie Adlard
Inker : Stefano Gaudiano
Letter : Rus Wootoon
Colorist/Grey Tones : Cliff Rathburn
Cover Price : 2.99 (13.6 cts per page) (3.5 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 22
Panels : 85
Dialog Total : 1280
Caption Total : 0
Panels <= 10 Words : 47
Panels per Page : 4
Words per Panel : 15
Words per Page : 58
Median Words per Page: 78
Story Time Span: Approx 12 Hours
Scenes : 7.
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology App, full page mode, on a 9.7" iPad.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. The 1280 words for a twenty two page book is low. There were a couple of full page splash pages in the book but it really doesn't excuse the lack of words. Add in that 25% of the dialog occurs in three pages and he narrative feels very light. That said, I'm not sure how more words would have added to the scenes that were played out in the 22 pages of story presented. I assume I'm the typical reader for this story in that I've read it from the beginning and not tried to jump in somewhere in the middle. Having all the story from day one negates the need for much, if any, need for the writer to bring me up to date. And I don't feel there was any attempt to do so. And the more I thought about it, because this story has a definite beginning point, the use of dialog or captions to bring me up to speed would not have been welcome. Would be akin to reading a novel and having the writer recap the last chapter at the beginning of each new chapter. With that in mind, it's hard to fault Kirkman's lack of narrative in this particular comic as, at least in theory, he has a story point he's moving towards and a map to get there. However, it does drive home that this story is really best read in TPB form as the bits and pieces of each chapter read better back to back and some of the bits are tiny. And even though the book is at the low end of today's cost spectrum, 2.99, it makes you wonder if you're getting your money's worth for 10 minutes of reading. Ten slow minutes with time to exam the panels.
The Art. Adlard's art just works. I'll only take exception to one page and that's the splash on page 16&17 of Rick and the others announcing their arrival with Rick shooting a couple of rounds into the air. The use of the solid black background on the splash gives you the feeling that this scene is occurring after the sun has gone down. Subsequent panels give the scene more of a daylight or dusk type of feeling. This may be the work of the inker or Grey Tone application but it felt like the film had been spliced incorrectly when the scene was being put together.
Lettering and coloring. Consistent. Which is part of the joy of reading this book. When you open the cover, you know what you're getting.
Name Banter : --
My ROI: 8 out of 10. A good opening chapter of a story arc with lots of small points touched on which may or may not be applicable later on. I can believe that what's happening on the pages is going to matter to the overall story and will need to be revisited and reread as the story plays out.
Recommending: Yes/No. As far as I'm concerned, the only way to recommend walking dead to a new reader is to have them start at book one. Jumping in late and not knowing what went before would be like sitting down in the middle of a one hour TV drama. You'd probably get the story but not to depth you would if you started at the beginning.
Cover Date : October 2013
Issue Title ''All Out War Chapter 1 of 12 "
Editor : Sean Mackiewicz
Writer : Robert Kirkman
Artist : Charlie Adlard
Inker : Stefano Gaudiano
Letter : Rus Wootoon
Colorist/Grey Tones : Cliff Rathburn
Cover Price : 2.99 (13.6 cts per page) (3.5 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 22
Panels : 85
Dialog Total : 1280
Caption Total : 0
Panels <= 10 Words : 47
Panels per Page : 4
Words per Panel : 15
Words per Page : 58
Median Words per Page: 78
Story Time Span: Approx 12 Hours
Scenes : 7.
Was read in Digital Form in the Comixology App, full page mode, on a 9.7" iPad.
And please remember, any opinions expressed should be taken with several grains of salt as I'm nothing more than a reader and the folks involved in the production of these books are paid professionals.
The counts. The 1280 words for a twenty two page book is low. There were a couple of full page splash pages in the book but it really doesn't excuse the lack of words. Add in that 25% of the dialog occurs in three pages and he narrative feels very light. That said, I'm not sure how more words would have added to the scenes that were played out in the 22 pages of story presented. I assume I'm the typical reader for this story in that I've read it from the beginning and not tried to jump in somewhere in the middle. Having all the story from day one negates the need for much, if any, need for the writer to bring me up to date. And I don't feel there was any attempt to do so. And the more I thought about it, because this story has a definite beginning point, the use of dialog or captions to bring me up to speed would not have been welcome. Would be akin to reading a novel and having the writer recap the last chapter at the beginning of each new chapter. With that in mind, it's hard to fault Kirkman's lack of narrative in this particular comic as, at least in theory, he has a story point he's moving towards and a map to get there. However, it does drive home that this story is really best read in TPB form as the bits and pieces of each chapter read better back to back and some of the bits are tiny. And even though the book is at the low end of today's cost spectrum, 2.99, it makes you wonder if you're getting your money's worth for 10 minutes of reading. Ten slow minutes with time to exam the panels.
The Art. Adlard's art just works. I'll only take exception to one page and that's the splash on page 16&17 of Rick and the others announcing their arrival with Rick shooting a couple of rounds into the air. The use of the solid black background on the splash gives you the feeling that this scene is occurring after the sun has gone down. Subsequent panels give the scene more of a daylight or dusk type of feeling. This may be the work of the inker or Grey Tone application but it felt like the film had been spliced incorrectly when the scene was being put together.
Lettering and coloring. Consistent. Which is part of the joy of reading this book. When you open the cover, you know what you're getting.
Name Banter : --
My ROI: 8 out of 10. A good opening chapter of a story arc with lots of small points touched on which may or may not be applicable later on. I can believe that what's happening on the pages is going to matter to the overall story and will need to be revisited and reread as the story plays out.
Recommending: Yes/No. As far as I'm concerned, the only way to recommend walking dead to a new reader is to have them start at book one. Jumping in late and not knowing what went before would be like sitting down in the middle of a one hour TV drama. You'd probably get the story but not to depth you would if you started at the beginning.
Re: Walking Dead 115 (Image Comics)
I completely agree with you on this. While someone probably could jump into The Walking Dead midstream, I don't think they should. Starting at the beginning is the best way to read the story.jonah wrote:As far as I'm concerned, the only way to recommend walking dead to a new reader is to have them start at book one. Jumping in late and not knowing what went before would be like sitting down in the middle of a one hour TV drama. You'd probably get the story but not to depth you would if you started at the beginning.
Letting this link go dark
Was hoping to continue this link indefinitely but life often gets in the way. I've just sold my house and am involved in trying to find a new home to move my family into somewhere other than the state I'm currently in. Once done I'm going to be a nomad for about a year while trying to complete a project for my company before retiring.
Small epiphanies.
I really wish comics had gone digital eons ago. I spent all weekend packing my books up and realized that I literally have a 'ton' of comics. Not to mention the TPBs and collectables I have. If you're early into the hobby, go DIGITAL !!!
You really need to enjoy the art in comics otherwise the investment makes no sense. A common novels averages 250 words per page. So with about 5 - 8 pages of a novel, you've gotten the same amount of story you get from a 20 page comic. Once you look at the price of a paperback versus a comic, you quickly realize, words alone don't justify the comic. That said, a poor story will usually over power great art. So they really both need to be present but I would expect the art to be a better determinant as to whether the comic was worth the investment.
Thanks to John for letting me occupy this space and any who peeked in.
Small epiphanies.
I really wish comics had gone digital eons ago. I spent all weekend packing my books up and realized that I literally have a 'ton' of comics. Not to mention the TPBs and collectables I have. If you're early into the hobby, go DIGITAL !!!
You really need to enjoy the art in comics otherwise the investment makes no sense. A common novels averages 250 words per page. So with about 5 - 8 pages of a novel, you've gotten the same amount of story you get from a 20 page comic. Once you look at the price of a paperback versus a comic, you quickly realize, words alone don't justify the comic. That said, a poor story will usually over power great art. So they really both need to be present but I would expect the art to be a better determinant as to whether the comic was worth the investment.
Thanks to John for letting me occupy this space and any who peeked in.
Re: Words, panels and pages in Books
I hope the move goes smoothly. I know what you mean about the literal ton of comics. When I moved about 15 years ago, my comics were a sizable chunk of the stuff to move. (And the collection has gotten much larger since then.)
I've really enjoyed the thread and hope you will consider reactivating it if/when you have the time to work to it.
I've really enjoyed the thread and hope you will consider reactivating it if/when you have the time to work to it.
Re: Words, panels and pages in Books
i echo that sentiment, really like your unique perspective on evaluating comicsJohnMayo wrote:I hope the move goes smoothly. I know what you mean about the literal ton of comics. When I moved about 15 years ago, my comics were a sizable chunk of the stuff to move. (And the collection has gotten much larger since then.)
I've really enjoyed the thread and hope you will consider reactivating it if/when you have the time to work to it.
Comics For Fun and Profit(also available on iTunes and Stitcher)