|
WILDSTORM SUMMER SPECIAL
Recommended (7/10)
|
DC Comics/Wildstorm Productions
"Orbital"
Writer: Warren Ellis
Pencils: Cully Hamner
Letters: John Costanza
"Isolation"
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Pencils: Georges Jeanty
Letters: Kathleen at Fishbrain
"Apple Read"
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Pencils: Brian Stelfreeze
Letters: John Costanza
Inks: Karl Story
Colors: Brian Stelfreeze
Editor: John Layman
Price: $5.95 US/$9.95 CAN |
Though it's not mentioned anywhere on the cover or in the marketing, this is really a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Gaijin Studios, a group of very talented artists who have graced comics with a lot of terrific artwork over the years. The book uses two of my least favorite formats, the anthology and the prestige format, but the amount of talent behind it, both on art and writing, had my interest piqued anyway. As it turns out, though the stories are a bit light and disposable, this is a fun read for fans of The Authority and the
artwork is certainly worth tuning in for anyone who enjoys solid storytelling
and distinctive styles. The stories are forgettable, unlikely to make anyone's
best lists, but they're enjoyable, and while I don't know that I'll be adding
this to my personal collection, I got a kick out of reading it.
The strongest story in the book (and watch the total lack of surprise here) is by Warren Ellis, returning to the Jack Hawksmoor character that he created. The story is simple, a little character moment in between all the stuff blowing up that is part and parcel of The Authority's job. Jack narrates, talking about his origin, his job, what The Authority has accomplished, and it's failures. All the while, he's taking advantage of his city-based powers for some impressive acrobatics courtesy of Cully Hamner and Karl Story, and the story winds up being an effective tour of Hawksmoor and his time with The Authority, both visually and in prose terms. The story also hits on the pure joy of having powers and using them to blow off steam, a good concept that Ellis hit a little bit during his run on The Authority. If there's a can't-miss story in this
special, this one is it.
Jenkins follows the same basic pattern with
his Engineer feature, which has artwork by the newest Gaijin, Georges Jeanty,
although he's inked by veteran Karl Story. The story is an examination of what
it means to be one of these post-humans, living in another dimension and
experiencing such a bizarre life, and how missing the normal things can be as
bad as normal folks wishing they could be extraordinary. The story comes to a
bit of an abrupt ending, but it's a fun examination of the character, who is one
of the most inhuman in appearance but most human in personality of The
Authority. And Jeanty's smooth style, seemingly influenced by studio-mate Adam
Hughes, is perfect for the story, presenting us with one of the sexiest
renditions of the Engineer I've seen.
Finally, there's a silent story, and
long-time readers of my reviews will know that I have great respect for artists
who can tell these stories well, because they're so difficult. In this case, I
felt the story missed the mark, because I wasn't entirely certain what was going
on, and it seems a waste of a talented wordsmith like Brian Azzarello to have
him write a fight scene that probably could have been choreographed just as
easily by the artist. Credit where credit is due though, the story looks
fantastic, with one of the most kinetic and exciting martial arts sequences I've
seen, and the black, white and red color scheme used to great effect.
Closing out the book is the reminder that
this is the celebration of an artists' studio, with several pinups, ranging from
good to excellent. Tony Harris's rendition of Planetary, in particular, is a
treat, although my favorite is probably Chris Sprouse's "Gen 13 meets the Gaijin
Studios crew" piece. It's a nice wrap-up to a beautiful-looking and mostly
entertaining book, and here's hoping that the Gaijin Studios boys decide to give
us another one somewhere down the road.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
