The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[Eli Katz]

wow, Eli is totally right. This comic really is just very boring and meandering and then of course the real moment of the comic is when the student ask about survival of a pod then you see someone survive a crash probably the main characters son....yeah this comic looks very paint by numbers and I can't imagine it getting any better.

4

It's great to see that we keep agreeing.

[Starlord]

Red Wing #1

The thing I always feel the most when finishing a Hickman book is that he is not writing for himself like all writers should. He's not writing for long time fans of the comic book genre. He just seems to write for the purpose of making himself look like he's something he's not... good. There's a vanity in his writing that always echos hollow, reminding me of that one kid in school who everyone knew was kind of sad when he would go out of his way to try and show everyone how smart and cool he was.

This book is full of that feeling with the usual garbage that he spews. The art is okay and nothing I would complain about. It actually saves this book from becoming a 2.

Story: 1
Art: 5
My Score: 3

[fieldy snuts]

When I got this book I went in blind, avoided the synopsis in the solicits and didn't even know it was a Hickman book till I picked it up. With a title like "The Red Wing" and that helmet on the cover I figured it was a space pilot-centric book.

Got it part right, it's a time travel book featuring a pilot. The main setting of the story is the 23rd story where time travel is now an established science that has caused humanity to start another war...this time where time is the battlefield. It's an intriguing concept and the way Hickman's storytelling approaches it in a very sci-fi way with out-there fictional science bases. Not much happens this issue save for one of the main characters becoming stranded in time.

Now much else happens other than a few pretty action sequences, but there's definitely a lot of potential here. Hickman's laid out a setting for this story, introduced some characters and explained the state of this world every basically...but in terms of story progression from the first to last pages there hasn't really been none. It's more a debut fueled by ideas rather than the story as of now. So I guess it remains to be seen if Hickman can tap into this potential of crazy idea's like he's done with Secret Warriors, FF and S.H.I.E.L.D.

I am interested in picking up this in trade based on this issue due to my faith in Hickman's ability as a writer.

Art is like Quitely minus the fuzzy oatmeal effect that's getting increasingly prevalent in his work. It's not as dynamic as Quitely stuff is at times but there's definite similarities and Pitarra is a competent enough artist to carry the story.

Story: 7.0
Art: 6.5
Overall: 7.0

[Royal Nonesuch]

I feel like every week, the Review Group really makes me feel like I'm really out of touch with a lot of comic book readers.

[guitarsmashley]

I feel like every week, the Review Group really makes me feel like I'm really out of touch with a lot of comic book readers.

I know I am. I read very few books.

[Zero]

I feel like every week, the Review Group really makes me feel like I'm really out of touch with a lot of comic book readers.

I know what you mean. This was a straightforward story with a simple concept and nice art and I have no idea what's so complicated about it. Stalord doesn't like anything non-traditional which is fine, Eli rarely enjoys sci-fi which is also fine but this is one week where it feels like they're slamming Hickman's talent because they don't like what he uses it for. Feel free to dislike the comic, but to say it's poorly written seems to be missing the point.

Red Wing #1

Time travelling fighter pilots. I'm surprised this hasn't been a movie. Hickman takes this simple idea and spins it out into a story which, from this first issue, looks to be as much about losing a father as it does losing a war. The notion of changing the past to win the future is something comics do fairly often (Geoff Johns is currently butchering this particular horse in Flashpoint) and missing fathers is something Hickman seems to be doing fairly often (Red Mass for Mars, Fantastic Four, SHIELD) so the themes aren't going to blow anyone away here. No, like Pax Romana and Transhuman the telling is what makes the story and I always enjoy Hickman's habit of sketching in details rather than thrusting them into your face. The lack of a strong narrative voice is something that can put people off (Especially when the story is as non-linear as at lot of Hickman's work can be) but it appeals to me and that's who I read comics for.

Art be good. Panel layouts be strong and storytelling clear. Style have echo of Quitely, mix with Hickman usual tricks.

A good first issue, hopefully it will follow Hickman's strong creator-owned pedigree without the delays that really hurt Red Mass for Mars.

9

[Comic_Doctor]

I was lucky to get a copy of this - my LCS randomly put it aside for me

I was very intrigued by the story of the young recruits, and their father's exploits. I assume we will learn much more about the fathers in coming issues. Hickman's writing was good, but not top notch for a first issue of a new series.

The art was solid (though not my type), but very good storytelling technique.

I'm on the fence about picking up future issues, so that taints my grade a bit.

6.5/10

[Comic_Doctor]

Sounds like this book is done by a poor man's Grant Morrison and a poor man's Frank Quitely.

Fairly acurate, I'd say (no offense to the creators).

[Victorian Squid]

Was it me, or besides the daddy theme is this another Hickman book with what looks to be an overwhelmingly male cast?

I share the slight annoyance at the use of pages to put a bolded word or phrase on a stark white background. There's no reason the same words can't be used in editorial boxes and have the same effect they have here--making them huge and offset doesn't necessarily make them more strident, as the reader is just going to flip the page again to try and get back to the story.

[BlueStreak]

Was it me, or besides the daddy theme is this another Hickman book with what looks to be an overwhelmingly male cast?

You'd be correct.

[Eli Katz]

This was a straightforward story with a simple concept and nice art and I have no idea what's so complicated about it. Stalord doesn't like anything non-traditional which is fine, Eli rarely enjoys sci-fi which is also fine but this is one week where it feels like they're slamming Hickman's talent because they don't like what he uses it for. Feel free to dislike the comic, but to say it's poorly written seems to be missing the point.

No one criticizing this book so far has said it is complicated. It is a standard sci-fi, time-travel story, dressed up with clunky, techno-sounding dialogue and gimmicky space-wasters like the two-page pronouncement that there are no paradoxes.

Hickman is not a good storyteller. He is, at most, an interesting stylist. But too often he chooses style over substance, and disrupts the flow of storytelling. I don't mind someone who has a unique narrative voice, who experiments with plot and narrative devices. But ultimately I read comic books for story and character. If I don't care what happens next and if I don't care about (or at least I don't find intriguing) the main characters, then I'm going to stop purchasing the book and I will give it a bad review. To say a comic book is poorly written, when you see signs of poor writing, is precisely the point. If it is not the point, then I don't know what the point of reviewing is.

And this book is poorly written. I'm not sure what about this time travel story is interesting enough to encourage readers to keep purchasing the book. A guy is lost in time and ends up in a strange land and era. That is so cliche it's embarrassing. The characters are very undeveloped at this point and their terrible dialogue makes them bland, cardboard cutouts.

And I enjoy sci-fi -- it's fantasy and magic stories that I hate, because the magic is often a deus ex machina device used by lazy writers to wrap up stories conveniently.

[Victorian Squid]

You'd be correct.

Holy macaroni, I just read Hex too. More Daddy issues and another sausage-fest of a comic.

[BlueStreak]

Holy macaroni, I just read Hex too. More Daddy issues and another sausage-fest of a comic.

Shockingly, next week's book also features a protagonist with daddy issues.

[Punchy]

Shockingly, next week's book also features a protagonist with daddy issues.

Matt Murdock has mother issues too, and issues with women, pretty much issues with everything really, he's fucked up.

[Victorian Squid]

Shockingly, next week's book also features a protagonist with daddy issues.

I guess that's a common theme but someone still needs to ask Jonathan Hickman what the deal is and if his father was really lost in time or something.