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[bkthomson]

ok, short review before my more details one. Massive is really good, very nice setup and I kept on getting that DMZ vibe while reading.

[bkthomson]

As for next weeks book. I know what I want to review but also since this is a first time pick for me I'm getting some feedback on the shortlist.

What could it be? We will soon see!

[Stephen Day]

Pretty sure my LCS won't carry this.

/stephenday'd

I have no worries about it not being there. I put it on my pull list when it was first solicited in Previews.

[Stephen Day]

I like to think Stephen picked this because I heckled him about not picking Saga last time.

It had more to do with the fact that it was a first issue that I was going to be getting this week anyway.

[Zero]

This was a great comic, I might have to break my reviewless streak to wax lyrical about it.

[Stephen Day]

I really like the world that Brian Wood has begun to create with this first issue of The Massive. Callum Israel and his crew seem like they should be interesting to follow on their journey. I'll say the same thing about the mysteries (the whereabouts of The Massive, what caused the Crash) this issue opened.

There wasn't much plot in the issue itself as it was mostly set up for the characters and the setting. The flashback pages and panels to the events of the Crash were well placed to add to the overall feeling of a world in chaos. In the end I found that the main thrust of what plotting did exist (the pirates) never really amounted to a threat that seemed to be a true danger to the crew. The pirates were mentioned here and there in between the introductory stuff for the characters and setting and then they were done with in about three pages. After that we're back to nine pages of more intro to the setting and characters.

It's all makes for a strong, but very slow start. I can see that's it's necessary with a cast and setting that seems to be fairly complicated. Having said that, there really wasn't anything that had me thinking, "this is amazing." There is a sense that this series will be consistently good and that I want to see where things go. In the end, it therefore it got the job done that you want out of a first issue.

Brain Wood didn't blow me away here like he did with the first issue of DMZ, but it still had me wanting more, so I'll give it a 7 out of 10.

[Victorian Squid]

There is a distinct vacuum in the inter-ether where the buzz for this book could be.

I haven't read it yet myself, I'm not connoting anything in regard to its quality, just saying the signs and portents I am reading here for the first issue are tepid, despite the 5star review on CBR.

[Chris]

No review from me, other than that I really liked it.

Few writers amount to a blind buy from me like Brian Wood. The list is maybe 3 or 4 deep. But there has yet to be a Brian Wood creator-owned project that I haven't liked. Although the subject matter is different, I love that this sort of feels like it could take place in the same world as DMZ.

I hope it has an equally long run - have they mentioned if it's an ongoing, mini, finite, etc.?

[Victorian Squid]

No review from me, other than that I really liked it.

Few writers amount to a blind buy from me like Brian Wood. The list is maybe 3 or 4 deep. But there has yet to be a Brian Wood creator-owned project that I haven't liked. Although the subject matter is different, I love that this sort of feels like it could take place in the same world as DMZ.

I hope it has an equally long run - have they mentioned if it's an ongoing, mini, finite, etc.?

Ongoing series as far as I know.

[Chris]

There is a distinct vacuum in the inter-ether where the buzz for this book could be.

I haven't read it yet myself, I'm not connoting anything in regard to its quality, just saying the signs and portents I am reading here for the first issue are tepid, despite the 5star review on CBR.

I haven't seen much hype for it. I don't remember DMZ debuting to much fan-fare either, though.

DMZ kind of ran under the radar for most of its run, though. I think it was pretty underrated. Always outshined by Fables, Scalped, etc. at Vertigo throughout its run.

I think after a couple issues, you'll see more people talking about this. It's really good.

[Victorian Squid]

I haven't seen much hype for it. I don't remember DMZ debuting to much fan-fare either, though.

DMZ kind of ran under the radar for most of its run, though. I think it was pretty underrated. Always outshined by Fables, Scalped, etc. at Vertigo throughout its run.

I think after a couple issues, you'll see more people talking about this. It's really good.

Yeah, I was going to speculate similarly, although I don't remember DMZ debuting or if I was reading comics then or not. I suspect not. But I would imagine both to be long-form narratives that start with a sort of slow burn. Unlike Saga most recently or even Y which really grabbed people with the first issues and generated a lot of discussion.

It has been pretty heavily promoted online, in print ads and previewed in Dark Horse Presents a couple months ago as well as on the internet the last couple weeks. The early promos gave you next to nothing to go on, other than a new Brian Wood series.

I'm not saying one way is better than the other, and I still haven't read Massive #1 to see if I think it's worth the wait or not (not as big a Brian Wood fan as you or amlah, not nearly). I'm sure Dark Horse is willing to invest that trust in Wood's writing, but several people I talked to already said it was okay but the slower start and price per page was sending them to trade-waiting. So I can't help but think there's some wisdom in crafting a first issue that really makes a splash, those monthly sales count quite a bit these days.

But again, this is from a combination of a few people whose first impressions have some merit with me, as well as scouring the web for reviews, and additionally gauging the sales metrics in a few places that indicate moderate or even sluggish sales. Lots of books are sort of sleeper hits that thrive in trade, DMZ could have been one of those, I'm not sure.

Then again, look at Thief of Thieves.

#1 got so-so reviews, had lackluster sales metrics, then AMC says hello and suddenly it's an absurdly hot book.

[S.F. Jude Terror]

So, I thought this book was pretty good. In the beginning of the book, I was definitely getting a "hipster Moby Dick" sort of vibe from it, and indeed in a world thrown into such turmoil, The Ninth Wave is really missing out an opportunity to conquer the market in trendy spartan outerwear. However, when the flashbacks started kicking it it gave the book depth and I became interested in the world that is being built here. I thought the pacing of these reveals was very well done, and countered nicely the slow burn that others have mentioned with the main characters. As far as the characters go, there's definitely more than meets the eye here. Hipster Captain Ahab Callum Israel is full of contradictions, stating that his group of conservationists is a pacifist organization in the beginning of the book, and authorizing the use of weapons by the end of it. The supplementary memo in the back by Israel paints him as haunted by the situation surrounding the Massive, and yet he takes care to carefully trim his artful goatee. Jokes about their hipsterism aside, the crew feel like they have leapt out of a Neal Stephenson novel, and I'm looking forward to reading more about them.

I liked the art here. Color was used very effectively, with the washed out scenes on the Kapital feeding the mood of uncertainty, the vivid colors of Mary's team on the zodiac conveying urgency, the olive drab of the pirate boats conveying menace, and the sepiatone of the flashbacks giving an authoritative feel to what amounts to a a very long, bulleted list of recent catastrophic historical events that does all the heavy lifting in building up this world in a hurry. My only complaint is, as joked about above, the "LOST principle" - these people are way too well groomed and dressed for being out at see in a near apocalyptic world.

Overall, I'll give this an 8 out of 10. It's not blowing me away, but it's interesting, it's very well executed, and it has no glaring flaws (just like Callum Isreal's Beiber Cut).

8/10

[******]

BK has selected...



BALTIMORE: DR. LESKOVAR'S REMEDY #1
Writer: Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden
Artist: Ben Stenbeck

An army of malformed vampires controls a small Croatian town, but Lord Henry Baltimore arrives to put an end to this madness, fighting his way to their creator—a twisted surgeon akin to Moreau and Mengele!

[bkthomson]

It was not an easy pick. First I had chew but that is a reprint of an issue a year old so question of availability is there. before Watchmen was also an option but. I do not want to force that book on watchmen purest. Then the x wedding seemed too obvious and we'll not all interesting besides the media hype. So I went with a Mikey M? Book.

[******]

The last Baltimore story was super good, I'm looking forward to this.