nelolis's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
tmarso's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Outstanding comic. It was gritty and well made. Would love to find more
kavinay's review
4.0
Highlander meets The Boys. There's something about JMS' ideas and themes that always pull at the tragically heroic heartstrings, making a silver age homage such a good fit.
There are two things that throw me a bit off this book:
1) JMS is doing a lot of exposition--which is fine--but it's done via walls of text on panel. It would be find here and there but the density slows you down. I almost wonder if this is where a more crafty letterer could have found a better way to present the same amount of copy while helping you stay visually engaged with each panel.
2) the art... it's not bad, but it's from a Liefeld/Jim Lee inspired era where everyone looks the same. The women especially, ugh, it's practically a requirement to wear pencil skirts to the point that every female is just the same set of clingy thighs on each page. Maybe it's unfair to criticize the art this far into the future where even superhero books feature all manner of pencil styles, but it does feel like the distinctiveness of the story isn't particularly enhanced by the art.
There are two things that throw me a bit off this book:
1) JMS is doing a lot of exposition--which is fine--but it's done via walls of text on panel. It would be find here and there but the density slows you down. I almost wonder if this is where a more crafty letterer could have found a better way to present the same amount of copy while helping you stay visually engaged with each panel.
2) the art... it's not bad, but it's from a Liefeld/Jim Lee inspired era where everyone looks the same. The women especially, ugh, it's practically a requirement to wear pencil skirts to the point that every female is just the same set of clingy thighs on each page. Maybe it's unfair to criticize the art this far into the future where even superhero books feature all manner of pencil styles, but it does feel like the distinctiveness of the story isn't particularly enhanced by the art.
annaswan's review
Wow, intense. I guess I occasionally dabble in superhero comics (thanks to the MCU mostly) but I really read this because it was written by JMS. Not sure I’ll continue to read the series as it’s very dark and that’s not what I’m in the mood for right now (or since November 2016, really).
wanderlustlover's review
5.0
Graphic Novel Book Club February 2016
I still love JMS and I still got goosebumps at the end of this graphic novel, when it broke off the first third of the story he'd planned to write. I got to reminisce a lot about the situations I was in when I was first reading this, when it was his first jump back into producing anything (after the pause following the sudden cut-off from Jeremiah).
A lot of this was reworking old groundwork for me. Rereading the story I'd already read, piecing together memory and a reread. Which is, indeed, what pushed me on to read the rest of the series, too.
I still love JMS and I still got goosebumps at the end of this graphic novel, when it broke off the first third of the story he'd planned to write. I got to reminisce a lot about the situations I was in when I was first reading this, when it was his first jump back into producing anything (after the pause following the sudden cut-off from Jeremiah).
A lot of this was reworking old groundwork for me. Rereading the story I'd already read, piecing together memory and a reread. Which is, indeed, what pushed me on to read the rest of the series, too.
bickleyhouse's review
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel. It reminds me of "Heroes," although I think it predates the TV show. I'm looking forward to reading more of the story. Written by the guy who wrote Babylon 5.
adamantium's review
4.0
Irredeemable is my favorite comic ever, bar none. I'm pleased to see that Straczynski of all people was doing something similar a few years earlier.
I'll always really respect the work he did on B5, even if it was cheesy sometimes--serialized TV with a start, middle, and end planned. Sheridan was a real boy scout, since this was before serialization, and before the real rise of the anti-hero.
This isn't about B5, but it made me think I'd like to check out JMS's original series, because I bet he planned it as meticulously as he did the show.
Fantastic beginning. Conceptually really interesting. Information is doled out in small, appropriate morsels. JMS isn't afraid to have a "this changes everything" moment.
But for the guy who wrote Ivanova and Delenn, the female characters here are pretty weak, figuratively and literally. We have Patriot, Bright, Pyre, all big, buff, Justice League types, and this far in the story the most prominent female specials are Chandra--the most beautiful woman in the world, to anyone looking--and Stephanie Maas, whose abuse as a child created a split (powered) personality. Neither is what I would call a great female heroine. No fliers or invulnerables yet.
Also, Poet has potential but he spent an awful lot of time brooding and letting his Cool Guy Hair flow behind him. I find him pretty annoying as a protagonist. But we'll give it time.
I'll always really respect the work he did on B5, even if it was cheesy sometimes--serialized TV with a start, middle, and end planned. Sheridan was a real boy scout, since this was before serialization, and before the real rise of the anti-hero.
This isn't about B5, but it made me think I'd like to check out JMS's original series, because I bet he planned it as meticulously as he did the show.
Fantastic beginning. Conceptually really interesting. Information is doled out in small, appropriate morsels. JMS isn't afraid to have a "this changes everything" moment.
But for the guy who wrote Ivanova and Delenn, the female characters here are pretty weak, figuratively and literally. We have Patriot, Bright, Pyre, all big, buff, Justice League types, and this far in the story the most prominent female specials are Chandra--the most beautiful woman in the world, to anyone looking--and Stephanie Maas, whose abuse as a child created a split (powered) personality. Neither is what I would call a great female heroine. No fliers or invulnerables yet.
Also, Poet has potential but he spent an awful lot of time brooding and letting his Cool Guy Hair flow behind him. I find him pretty annoying as a protagonist. But we'll give it time.
roklobster's review
4.0
Felt in the mood for some good comics, and to get back into the mind set of writing them.
These are good stories. Sort of Watchmen with Marvel and DC heros gone bad good and sideways. Straczynski tells a good story, with layers and intrigue and interesting ideas.
The art is not all I would hope it would be, but it doesn't detract from the story. SOrt of classic superhero art, which has it's appeal.
These are good stories. Sort of Watchmen with Marvel and DC heros gone bad good and sideways. Straczynski tells a good story, with layers and intrigue and interesting ideas.
The art is not all I would hope it would be, but it doesn't detract from the story. SOrt of classic superhero art, which has it's appeal.
charles_cbcpl's review
3.0
This is a cleverly-done revisionist superhero comic, but it's hard to forgive the somewhat-familiar plot when the characters are the same angry wooden contrivances that Marvel has been coughing out since Frank Miller brought politics and angst to comics with Dark Knight. Other authors have taken advantage of the sequential format to give their characters multidimensional personalities despite the necessarily sparse dialogue, but this... all plot and no heart.