I
am not one of those comic fans who are incensed by work for hire
“corporate” comic companies like Marvel or DC. Nor am I one of
those comic fans who endlessly praise creator owned works as the gold
standard for creativity and artistic expression. Creator owned comics
can be just as often done for less than altruistic reasons as
anything by Marvel or DC. None of this has anything to do with this
book or the creators involved in the making of it, this is just
something that I have wanted to get off my chest. Having said that,
lets take a look at this book.
SNAPSHOT (Image, 2013; Softcover)
Collects
Snapshot
Nos. 1-4 (cover dates February- May, 2013), originally published in
Judge
Dredd Megazine
Nos. 322-330 (cover dates April 24, 2012- December 18, 2012)
Writer:
Andy Diggle
Artist:
Jock (a/k/a Mark Simpson)
Jake
is a west coast teenager working at a comic shop who finds a
smartphone on the ground while riding his bike to work one day. When
he gets to work he finds a regular customer and friend waiting for
him to open the store. They go through the phone and find pictures of
a murder scene on the phone, and the phone only has one contact
number in its phonebook. Then the phone rings and the voice on the
other end claims to be a homicide detective who needs the phone for
evidence. Jake, being a kid, and this being a comic, tells the
obvious hitman where he is and agrees to let him come and get the
phone.
Jake,
to his credit, does try and go to the police...who then don't believe
him. Things get pretty tricky to describe from here without being one
of those asshole reviewers who give a scene by scene, blow by blow
spoiler-filled synopsis. Snapshot is a well thought out,
flawless story, the type of thing that my wife would watch on
television and that I would skip to read more comic books. It's
strange, I will read comic books about all kinds of things, but will
watch very, very little television. I say this not as some moral or
intellectually smug comment, I say it as a point of reference for how
I spend my free time. I waste just as much time on entertainment as
you do...and probably too much money.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 4.75 out of 5.
The
OCD zone- Image makes nice trade paperbacks.
DVD-style
Extras included in this book: I can tell you
what is not included: The 2nd printing to #1 cover
as well as the issue 1 Forbidden Planet retailer exclusive variant.
Paper
rating: 4.75 out of 5. Nice coated stock with a slight sheen.
Coated stock on black and white material can be a hit or miss, but
with the amount of blacks and solids that this story has, coated
stock was the way to go.
Binding
rating: 4.25 out of 5. Perfect bound trade paperback.
Cardstock
cover coating rating: 4.25 out of 5. The cover has that dull
matte finish coating which I dislike but seems durable enough.
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