A review by vanessakm
True Blood: All Together Now by Alan Ball
2.0
For some background on me, I read the first 8 books in Charlaine's Sookie Stackhouse series until I completely burned out and I've seen every episode of True Blood. It's not the best thing on TV, or even HBO, but it succeeds more often than not at being an entertaining mess (good looking people getting naked-a LOT-doesn't hurt.)
And, damn it. I feel kind of guilty giving this two stars because there were parts of this I liked but really, they could do better. I gather from other reviewers this story takes place between seasons 2 and 3. So after Mary Ann but before Russell Edgington (best TB villain ever, y/y?) A supernatural spirit visits Merlotte's and traps Sookie, Bill, Eric, Tara, Lafayette, Jason and some nameless rednecks-for Star Trek fans, you can think of them as red shirts here-inside and forces them to recount the things they are most ashamed of. I liked Sam's story the best but, then again, it's a story about a dog so of course I would.
I'm gathering IDW (the land of licensed content comics) and HBO mandated the characters must above all else resemble their TV counterparts, which is logical but gives the art a waxy mannequin-like feel. The coloring is also too heavy-handed. As the art is noticeably better in the flashback sequences, I tend to believe corporate meddling is to blame instead of the creative team. The story is a cool idea but the execution is silly. Way too many hackneyed side conversations and blithe mouthing off to a monster that just killed half of the bar, not to mention almost killing a vampire.
One thing that was good: Tara is significantly less annoying on the printed page. In my house, a Tara-centric scene is a scene that gets fast forwarded over. DVR's rule.
I've often looked at this series in my local comics shop but I've never actually thrown down for an issue. I might read another TPB from the library to see if this gets better.
And, damn it. I feel kind of guilty giving this two stars because there were parts of this I liked but really, they could do better. I gather from other reviewers this story takes place between seasons 2 and 3. So after Mary Ann but before Russell Edgington (best TB villain ever, y/y?) A supernatural spirit visits Merlotte's and traps Sookie, Bill, Eric, Tara, Lafayette, Jason and some nameless rednecks-for Star Trek fans, you can think of them as red shirts here-inside and forces them to recount the things they are most ashamed of. I liked Sam's story the best but, then again, it's a story about a dog so of course I would.
I'm gathering IDW (the land of licensed content comics) and HBO mandated the characters must above all else resemble their TV counterparts, which is logical but gives the art a waxy mannequin-like feel. The coloring is also too heavy-handed. As the art is noticeably better in the flashback sequences, I tend to believe corporate meddling is to blame instead of the creative team. The story is a cool idea but the execution is silly. Way too many hackneyed side conversations and blithe mouthing off to a monster that just killed half of the bar, not to mention almost killing a vampire.
One thing that was good: Tara is significantly less annoying on the printed page. In my house, a Tara-centric scene is a scene that gets fast forwarded over. DVR's rule.
I've often looked at this series in my local comics shop but I've never actually thrown down for an issue. I might read another TPB from the library to see if this gets better.