A review by londonmabel
Welcome to Tranquility, Vol. 1 by Neil Googe, Gail Simone
3.0
Hm, gosh, I wanted to love it. I lurv Top 10 and the premise is similar so it was like a chance to revisit that fun concept. Unfortunately, Top 10 sort of goes much more wild and crazy with the idea of an untamed city full of super beings, so Tranquility seemed merely quaint in comparison.
However I loved the method of interspersing the story with excerpts from the character's comic books (of their youth) -- that was fantastic. They were either relevant to building character, or to the mystery storyline. However she could have used these to much better effect to drop clues for the mystery story.
Because the mystery story was poorly constructed. The comic seemed to have been built not so much for a great revelation at the end that makes sense in terms of what it reveals about the baddies, but it was just a lead up for the roles that all the other characters would play at the end to overcome them. Which means I guessed the killer, but for a stupid reason. The actual motivation was never properly hinted at or foreshadowed, and was totally random when revealed. But then the battle was completely foreshadowed and therefore satisfying.
So... weak mystery... great final battle/character denouement.
However I loved the method of interspersing the story with excerpts from the character's comic books (of their youth) -- that was fantastic. They were either relevant to building character, or to the mystery storyline. However she could have used these to much better effect to drop clues for the mystery story.
Because the mystery story was poorly constructed. The comic seemed to have been built not so much for a great revelation at the end that makes sense in terms of what it reveals about the baddies, but it was just a lead up for the roles that all the other characters would play at the end to overcome them. Which means I guessed the killer, but for a stupid reason. The actual motivation was never properly hinted at or foreshadowed, and was totally random when revealed. But then the battle was completely foreshadowed and therefore satisfying.
So... weak mystery... great final battle/character denouement.