Friday, 8 August 2014

Catching up with some comics, 'Attention span of a Goldfish' Edition!

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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