Monday, June 29, 2015

Reviews- VELVET VOL. 2: THE SECRET LIVES OF DEAD MEN and REVIVAL VOL. 5: GATHERING OF WATERS


VELVET VOL. 2: THE SECRET LIVES OF DEAD MEN (Image, First Printing, May, 2015; Softcover)

Collects Velvet #6-10 (cover dates July, 2014- April, 2015)

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Steve Epting
Colorist: Elizabeth Breitweiser

Take some Dramamine before beginning to read this book, as the numbers of twists and turns may make you ill. Velvet Templeton is or is not nuts, is or is not innocent, and is or is not close to nailing this shut, depending on which twist you're at. Beautifully written, drawn, and colored, I recommend this to everyone. Good stuff that proves that not all modern comics suck...just the vast majority of them.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.25 out of 5.


The OCD zone- Image makes nice books.
Paper stock: Beautiful thick matte coated stock.
Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.
Cardstock cover notes: Thick waxlike lamination.


REVIVAL VOL. 5: GATHERING OF WATERS (Image, First Printing, May, 2015; Softcover)

Collects Revival #24-29 (cover dates October, 2014- April, 2015)
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Mike Norton
Colorist: Mark Englert

Talk talk talk development. Talk talk talk event. Talk talk talk about the development and then talk talk talk about the event. This “Rural Noir” usually satisfies me but this time it served to only annoy me. Modern comics rely on a “cinematic”, dialogue driven method of writing. I prefer older comics because the third party captions gave it a more literary feel. Modern comics all try to mimic modern day television or movies, which I mostly dislike. Comic books are, to me, the ultimate form of expression because they can combine the emotional weight of text with the impact of images. Leaning too far in either direction robs the medium of it's true potential. I get why modern comic books are written this way. You are dealing with people who can't look up from their phones to cross the street since attention spans are at an all time low. The worst part of all of this is that they make a lot of nothing happen over a lot of pages to pad out a trade paperback. The energy and spontaneity that I crave is absent from this title.

I've given this title two or so years of my life, and I am done. It is good but not good enough to hold my interest without any resolution. Development after development occur, and there has yet to be a definite arc resolution. Some folks may like this kind of thing but we haven't even hit a plateau yet. One of two things can happen. Either the suspense will build and the payoff will bowl you over, or the expectations for a huge payoff are going to be heaped so high that it can do nothing but disappoint. Either way, I won't be finding out.
Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Image makes nice books.
Paper stock: Coated stock with a slight sheen.
Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback.
Cardstock cover notes: Matte coating, very resistant to scuffing. 

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