Giving a Thumbs Down to Allegedly Great Comics

Marvels

Normally I like pretty things, and this is very pretty. It’s a neat little trick they pulled off and all of the heroes look like people I know from TV. I am not one of these ‘Alex Ross is the anti-christ’ people, but this mini-series just doesn’t resonate with me. I am glad I own it, and I will flip through it from time to time but that's about it. I never understood why this cause such a fuss when it was initially released – but I guess 1994 was just about the low point in comic book history, so this must have seen like the second coming of Fantastic Four #1. The real problem is that for a project that aims to bring the reader to the street level of the Marvel Universe, it comes across as detached. The only thing I learned is that if you stick to close to the tights and capes crowd, you’ll put your eye out. The little ‘mutie’ was the best part, and I wish there was an ongoing series about her. Whatever happened to her?

30 Days of Night

Man, I read so many good things about this series and the premise sounded so bloody brilliant that I was got my hands on the first TPB as soon as it came out. Not a bad start, but the thing just went nowhere. How could something that sounded so exciting end up being so boring? I wanted that whole ‘Omega Man – trapped and surrounded’ sense of dread, but it was totally absent. On top of it, the vampires came across as Buffy extras.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

I love Frank Miller. I really do. The man has provided me with plenty of comic reading goodness over the years. I am a child of his versions of Daredevil and Wolverine. Dark Knight Returns pretty much blew my 13 year-old mind when it came out. I have never had a problem with his storytelling or his chunky pencils. This was the first and only Sin City book I bought. It sucked. OK concept, poor execution. It’s just sloppy, and not in a good ‘loose pencils/flowing narrative’ kind of way. It’s just bad sloppy. Too much, too fast – the comic book equivalent of premature ejaculation.