Even
my eight month old daughter has a greater attention span than I do at
the moment. Seriously, once she sees something on the floor it will be
hers (especially if we don't want her to have it) no matter what
distractions we put in her way. Me on the other hand… I'm still trying
to read 'She Who Waits', a book that came through the door over a year
ago. This would be the time to make an amusing attention span comparison
but I can't even focus enough to do that… :o)
Thank
the reading gods for comics then! And thank the gods of technology for a
phone that I can read comics on! And thank the comic book writers…
Well, my comic book reading was a tiny bit hit and miss, this time
round, so maybe the thanks need to be a little more specific…
'X' #16 - Swierczynski/Nguyen (Dark Horse)
It
looks like I missed an issue somewhere along the line but that's never a
huge deal with X; a comic where the story is increasingly sidelined by
huge amounts of violence and people dying messily. Issue 16 is no
different with Nguyen (welcome back!) really conveying the gritty noir
of Arcadia and lending the violence the impact that it needs to make you
wince. And it does… More Nguyen in future please!
As
far as the story goes… Well, there isn't really much of one; just a
steady progression of fights and explosions. Just what I needed to keep
me occupied but a little too lightweight for those who want some plot
with their action (even if there is a nice little twist at the end).
What does concern me a little bit, about the series, is how the villains
are being repeatedly ramped up in terms of what they can dish out. I
just wonder if Swierczynski has peaked too early with Archon, a man who
can shrug off a burst of acid to the face and a shotgun blast to the
chest. Where do you go after that? Can you go anywhere after that? I'll
be around to see what happens next but I can't help but feel a little
worried about the direction 'X' is going in…
'Ghost' #7 - Sebela, Duursema (Dark Horse)
I
never thought I'd find myself non-plussed by an issue of 'Ghost' but
this issue was the one that had me feeling, well… Meh. Jan Duursema does
some great work in the larger frames (really captures Elisa's internal
conflict) but the smaller frames suffer in that they merely recount
events rather than capturing a sense of, well… anything really.
The
story itself seems to suffer from a slight malaise as well with a
little too much attention paid to the aforementioned internal conflict.
Things are set up in the background but it all seems a little too vague
to actually mean anything. The plot drifts when it really needs to be
more forceful and direct… I've followed 'Ghost' too long now to give up
but I'm not eagerly awaiting the next issue like I have in the past.
Hopefully next month will see a return to form.
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