Thursday, April 9, 2015

Review- THE COMPLETE JON SABLE, FREELANCE VOL. 7


THE COMPLETE JON SABLE, FREELANCE VOL. 7 (IDW, 2007; Softcover)

Collects Jon Sable, Freelance #34-39 (cover dates March- August, 1986)

Writer and Artist: Mike Grell

Mike Grell's writing gets better and goes deeper while his artwork gets sloppy and scratchy. Can this be the same person who, only a decade before, had shown the world some serious art in Warlord? How does an artist become so lazy? Is it self satisfaction that leads to it? Apathy? Experimentation?

Grell explored lots of dialogue and narrative free work here, with pages and pages of pictures. Some of it works for the story, some of it seems like padding. Innovative for it's time, it is now a common practice in comic books that I have grown to loathe.

Sable accidentally stumbles upon an Aryan Nation camp where they are kidnapping and impregnating white women in their attempt to “purify” the race. Next we see Sable hired to go on an expedition to Africa to retrieve a treasure of legend. Sable finally finds out who the killer of his family is. While this is not the end of the series it would have made a fine ending. I know that this is where I am getting off of this ride. The loose artwork was a real turn off.
Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone

Linework and Color restoration: The linework comes from the original film, while the recoloring is the worst that I have ever seen. I read the first six volumes in this line in the two Omnibus trades, which are smaller than a standard trade paperback. The smaller size greatly benefited the inferior techniques used to recolor this. Gradient shades, lazy airbrushing, sloppy coloring which seeps over the edge of the word balloons...it's all here!

Paper stock: Thick glossy coated stock.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover notes: Embossed logos with spot varnish with the rest of the cover having a matte finish.

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