Posted a review of the excellent latest Usagi Yojimbo book, A Town Called Hell by Stan Sakai here: http://whatculture.com/comics/usagi-yojimbo-vol-27-a-town-called-hell-review.php
Also wrote a review of Mark Waid, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Connor's pitiful Image series, Gatecrasher:
Gatecrasher is a mix of Stargate and Starship Troopers, two average sci-fi movies, that ends up reading like a below average comic. Which is quite surprising considering the talents involved - Mark Waid and Jimmy Paliotti writing and Amanda Connor drawing.
Alec Wagner is a young dude who’s half human and half alien (I think, it’s not clear) dating a hot high school senior (there’s a subplot about the two attending her senior prom that’s just terrible) but he’s also a member of a covert special ops team that goes into alien dimensions via energy gates and fight off threats to Earth. Aliens and humans fight one another in a boring military-esque fashion - they get in trouble, they get out of trouble, it’s something we’ve all seen a hundred times before.
The only thing the book did besides make me yawn was to wonder about Connor’s politics, particularly towards women. As a female artist it’s strange that she would draw women as exploitatively as she does, like barbie doll scenery essentially. Every girl is ridiculously curvy and in one scene, Hazard, the hot redhead, strips down to bra and panties to sword fight in the finale! What, her figure-hugging outfit wasn’t revealing enough? It’s just so weird to see a female artist draw women like objects.
Anyway, cheap art thrills, boring story, template characters all make Gatecrasher an ordinary, almost pointless comic that fails to interest on any level. No wonder it’s a little-known comic despite it’s creators’ high profiles, Gatecrasher is very forgettable schlock.
Gatecrasher Volume 1: Ring of Fire
No comments:
Post a Comment