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GREYSHIRT: INDIGO SUNSET #1
"The Lure" & "Six Seconds"
Neutral (4/10)
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DC Comics/America's Best Comics imprint
Writer/Artist: Rick Veitch
Colors: Wildstorm FX
Letters: Todd Klein
Editors: Scott Dunbier
Price: $3.50 US/$5.75 CAN |
If the loss of Top 10 and the sporadic publishing schedule of Promethea, Tom Strong and Tomorrow Stories weren't enough, we now have the first big sign that the luster is wearing off the once-proud America's Best Comics: a spin-off mini-series in which creator Alan Moore has no credited involvement. It's not that Rick Veitch isn't talented enough to pull off the project, it's just that seeing him put his talents to use on one of Moore's second-rate ideas is a bit depressing. Whether or not Greyshirt works for you will depend largely on whether or not you enjoyed Tomorrow Stories, because it doesn't have anything
different to offer other than a larger page count.
I'm always at a bit of a loss when reviewing the America's Best Comics. They're well-crafted, with solid writing, artwork and production values, but they just don't connect with me at all these days. Tomorrow Stories has always been the worst, seeming even more lightweight than the rest, and Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset shares that problem. What we have here is a flashback "scrappy neighborhood kids" story and a cute but all-too-familiar Spirit homage. Veitch is very
effectively evoking feelings of Kirby and Eisner, but he's not doing anything
new. It's fairly predictable and dull fluff material.
The supporting cast in the
flashback story is a lot of fun. A gangster with a heart of gold, his floozy of
a girlfriend who happens to be Greyshirt's mom, even the burned-out hippy are
all amusing little characters. I also enjoyed the monster of the story, which is
very much in the grim urban legend tradition of kid monsters like crocodiles in
the sewers. Unfortunately, it has little meat to offer, other than a silly
ending that serves as a wink and nod to readers familiar with Greyshirt, so that
they'll realize the character actually was in the story somewhere.
However, the backup story in the issue is actually weaker, as it's pretty much exactly the same kind of thing I've come to expect from Tomorrow Stories. In fact,
it would feel right at home there, as it's largely a gimmick (in this case,
grenade instructions as narration) melded onto the same story of Greyshirt
versus criminals that we've had in every issue.
When America's Best Comics
first started out, they seemed shiny and new, a breath of fresh air in an
industry that desperately needed it. Now the competition has gotten stronger and
better, and America's Best Comics is looking as tired and played out as the
books that they once stood head and shoulders above.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
