GREYSHIRT: INDIGO SUNSET #1 (Best of the Week!)
"The Lure" & "Six Seconds"
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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DC Comics/America's Best Comics imprint
Writer/Artist: Rick Veitch
Colors: Wildstorm FX
Letters: Todd Klein
Editor: Scott Dunbier
Price: $3.50 US/$5.75 CAN |
Tomorrow Stories has proved to be my least favorite of Alan Moore's America's Best line. Mind you, I always found the "Greyshirt" feature to be the most consistently strong one in the book. On the other hand, the Spirit riff didn't really connect with me completely. I don't know what it is, but stories and characters so directly inspired by Will Eisner's early work don't appeal to me as much as they do other comic-book enthusiasts.
With Indigo Sunset, that trend has been broken. Both stories had me riveted. Writer/artist Rick Veitch need not worry about standing in Alan Moore's shadow with this limited series.
Two young boys, along with some gangsters, learn the secret of the Lure, Indigo City's own urban myth of a creature rumored to be hiding in the nearby mines so it can drain the life from kids foolish enough to venture near. Meanwhile, a notable crime figure, recently released from prison, aims to exact his revenge on the judge that locked him up, but Greyshirt's appearance could put a crimp in his plans.
In the first story, Veitch uses an approach that's highly reminiscent of the Archie house style, and specifically, the style one would find in old issues of Little Archie. It makes for an excellent contrast with the creepy tone of the story itself. In the second piece, Vetich brings a disgusting little man to life through sharp but exaggerated detail. There's a nice visual variety to be found in this first issue.
What really made this book click, though, was the script. The dialogue in the first story really brought the eerie and chilling atmosphere out in a story from which one wouldn't have expected it. And in the second feautre, the narration -- "quoting" a manual on the operation of a hand grenade -- brought a great deal of tension to a seemingly ordinary crime story. Veitch has certainly grabbed my attention, and I hope he does the same with subsequent issues.
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