|
THE CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #1
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
|
Marvel Comics
Writer: Chuck Austen & Bruce Jones
Pencils: David Finch
Inks: Art Thibert
Colors: Avalon Studios
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
OK, I get it now. I've been reading the solicitations and the backup stories, and I've been trying to figure out just what The Call was going to
be. It's not really three separate stories, it's one story about a strange
little girl (ghost?) who interacts with police, firemen and EMT
drivers/technicians, the holy trinity of "real heroes" who are getting their due
as a result of 9-11. I'm actually a little let down by this revelation, because
while I think each realm offers plenty of story potential, I'm already seeing
overlap between the stories, and I'm afraid the central plot is too weak to
sustain three mini-series. In addition, though Finch's artwork is clear enough,
it has that early Image/Top Cow look that seems scratchy and somewhat ugly to
me, and seems an odd fit for relatively realistic subject matter like this.
The good news is that if you
haven't read the backup stories in Marvel's various titles, you won't feel left
out, as they're all reprinted here. The bad news is that if you have read those
backups, there's only about 16 pages of new story for you here. However, the
backup stories probably served their purpose, as the setup of how firemen work
and the little girl who is mysteriously showing up at scenes of carnage is laid
out as the main plot of the tale, and if you liked those backups, you'll
probably enjoy where the rest of the story is going.
I'm a bit torn on the story
itself, honestly. I like the way that Austen and Jones interweave the lives of
cops, firefighters and the ambulance drivers together, and it was kind of fun
seeing the same scenes replayed from different points of view. However, the most
interesting parts of the story for me were the ones that sort of showed how
daily life is for these guys, whether it's the mechanics of fighting a fire or
the behavior they have in the firehouse, and that sort of material is woefully
small compared to the number of pages of "my daddy is mad, there's a war coming"
mystical mumbo-jumbo from our ghostly girl. I'm also a little unsure about a
plot that clearly connects all of these minis with different characters, because
I'm already a little tired of the girl's story with one issue... I can't imagine
how bored I'll be when I've read twelve issues worth of it.
Though Austen and Jones
sometimes get a little too caught up in talking about how brave and noble
fireman are, in general I found the dialogue and the narration to be pretty
solid. The banter between the fireman, the mixture of casual humor and deadly
serious matters, felt real and believable, and while I sometimes felt like I was
reading a firefighter propaganda piece rather than a story, I'm also of the
opinion that these guys deserve all the acclaim they're being given, so it
didn't really bother me too much.
On the art side of things,
David Finch and Art Thibert deliver solid, strong artwork in a style that has
never been my favorite. They convey the all-encompassing fire, the collapsing
building and the sterile setting of a hospital all very well, with Avalon
Studios's coloring being very helpful in that regard as well. And the basics of
the storytelling are clear, albeit a little stiff when it comes to body
language. I just found the scratchy lines and overly beautiful appearance of
every single character to take away from the realism that the story
required.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board. |
