I am getting to the stage in life where I am not really enjoying things that make me feel stupid. Not many funnybooks have that effect on me (Jimmy Corrigan comes to mind), but let's throw this one into that group. I have read two of Jonathan Lethem's novels (Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn), neither of which lived up to the hype in my opinion. There's a lot of potential at the outset, but the stories cannot seem to escape the built-in weirdness. The same goes for this update of the Omega story. The original run was odd, but this cranks it up to 11. Thematically, there is a lot going on here, but much of it is lost due to awkward storytelling and cryptic dialogue. I wanted to like this book. In fact, I wanted to love it but the sheer 'weird for weird's sake' kept me at arm's length and left me feeling cold. Note that I read this over a 3 week period; a sure sign that it did not engage me. On the plus side, I enjoyed Farel Dalrymple's pencils as they reminded me of Guy Davis. Trade Mark: C-
5 comments:
Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like Lethem. My best friend raved about Motherless Brooklyn to me. I read it and couldn't believe how bad it was. There are so many better mysteries out there by writers like Fredric Brown, Robert Bloch, and Charles Willeford, who don't get the same regard because they're regarded as "genre" writers...
Glad I'm not the only one who did not really like the updated Omega. Loved the original which, despite being cryptic, seemed to have some kind of overriding point - and the story, although sadly never finished by original authors Gerber and Skrenes - was definitely going somewhere.
On the other hand, I totally agree with you that much of this newer series seemed to be weird and confusing for that sake alone. And yes, another problem is that it simply got boring after a few issues - it was a real struggle for me to read the series all the way to the end.
By the way, Scott, it's nice to see you posting more or less regularly again. And sorry for not showing my appreciation by commenting more often...
Thanks for the comments all. I found this to be a slow, frustrating read so I'm glad to hear I am not the only one with those sentiments.
Thanks for the kind words as well - my work life has been nuts since last August so I have a lot less time to kill in front of my computer. I haven't even had much time to read funnybooks. How sad! Parents, think twice before sending your kids off to law school.
I picked up the Omega book thinking it was the original. I didn't hate it but it was a let down.
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