Words, panels and pages in Books
Moderator: JohnMayo
Re: Words, panels and pages in Books
I'm glad you enjoyed Astro City #2. That level of depth and story richness is pretty much par for the course with Astro City.
What if #1 (Volume 1) --
Sorry about the early post, I'm otherwise engaged this coming week.
What if #1 (Volume 1) < Read 21 Sept 2013>
Cover Date : February 1977
Issue Title 'What if Spider-man had joined the Fantastic Four.'
Editor : Roy Thomas
Writer : Roy Thomas
Artist : Jim Craig
Inker : Pablo Marcos
Letter : John Costanza
Cover Price : 0.50 (1.5 cts per page) ( 0.2 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 33
Panels : 196
Dialog Total : 6352
Caption Total : 142
Panels <= 10 Words : 11
Panels per Page : 6
Words per Panel : 33
Words per Page : 197
Story Time Span: At least a period of 6 to 18 months. I'm putting forth this time span as when this tale is related, it covers 14 issues of Fantastic Four and those issue were written at a time when a comic felt like it spanned a month between issues in 'comic time' as well as real time.
Was read in TPB form; What if Classics Volume 1. ISBN: 978-0785117025
While definitely a product of it's time, this comic is still highly enjoyable to read. It harkens back to a day when heroes and villains didn't bleed and if they died, it was implied, not seen. And when killed, it was usually by there own doing, never the hero. While I probably couldn't take a steady diet of this type of story telling, it serves very nicely as 'popcorn' fair. And I like popcorn on a semi-regular basis.
This comic is wordy. Very wordy but not needlessly so. Because the story is retelling an alternate history/timeline, the story references the 'as told' stories and generally tells you what happened in the 'real' marvel universe as opposed to what is happening in the story. Additionally, this still very much in the Stan Lee style of writing where most nouns have a requirement to have a string of adjectives in front of it and verbs must have adverbs. You gotta smile and cringe all at the same time when Namor pulls out the "Ravenous unthinking Flame Eater" plant when he engages the Human Torch in Hand to Hand combat.
The Watcher narrates throughout the story to provide all the backgrounds and forks in the story being told and this works well for the most part. While I think Roy Thomas does a great job editing, it's usually a mistake to be both the writer and editor of the same material. There's a couple of typos as well as a scene or two in the book that contradicts itself within a few panels. I'd like to think a separate set of eyes would have caught these errors.
Part of the Story is almost word for word from the Original Amazing Spider-man #1 Story and the panels are one for one. The new art follows right along with the original version which when studying the story, vice simply reading it, is a kinda cool thing to look at. The newer art has a better perspective to it than the original Ditko art, but either is enjoyable.
While I'm reasonably certain I've read this story before, but had no memory of it and really didn't see where it was headed to until it got there. A nice little twist which probably means more to us readers who remember Namor being a major reoccurring villain of the FF in the early years.
Another nice touch in these older stories is the editor boxes which reference other issues where the story references can be found. I really miss those in todays comics and there are/were very effective at getting me to pull out/find the other issues to clarify events. I really wonder why comics these days don't use these, particularly with Digital comics being available for readers to reach out and impulsively buy should they want to know. Seems like an easy way for the publishers to pick up some extra cash with little effort.
Things that were amusing to note in the writing, Mr. Fantastic calling out to the other members of the FF to "Execute Defense Measure B", The Hypno-Fish used by Namor to capture Sue, Radioactive Clay, Namor's "mental projection" into the Baxter Building to taunt the FF, Spider-man's reaction to being back handed by Namor into the Thing hard enough to break off a hardening fungus that immobilized Ben is "Ouch", and perhaps my Favorite Is Ben Grimm Thinking he's Not heard of a woman keeping her mouth Shut as Long as Sue when she's under water and the Watcher following up the sexist remark with one of his own about Ben not knowing women and how this probably would not shut up most women. Any wonder comics, at least in the past, were not something that girls/women would respond positively to ? And oh yeah, Namor's "ultimate weapon" is a plant that releases gas and he also uses a Giant Scavenger Clam to capture the FF when they enter his part of the ocean. Don't snicker, it used to be and still is in it's own way, great stuff.
The letterer does a wonderful job on the story, helping the story be told clearly. It could not have been easy to write all those words much less find a way to place them on the page without hiding the art. John Costanza was the Winner of the Shazam! award in 1974 for the best letterer and it's easy to understand, for me, why simply based on this one issue.
Jim Craig's art is serviceable and is very much in line with what would have been Marvel House art at the time. The flat colors make it harder to compare yesterday's art to today's style. What is noticeable, or not as the case may be, is backgrounds. They are almost always mono-chromatic as not to get in the way of the foreground art.
My ROI on this one is a solid 7. But's primarily based on me enjoying stories which in turn lead me to other stories. Because this book references so many others, I had to go back and see how they intersected at various times. Roy's editing really stands out here as the timelines and characters seem to be pretty spot on. And I always forget that Peter Parker was referred to as Peter PALMER in the chapter of ASM #1 where he encounters the FF. Seems like it would be a major trivia bit but always stays lost on me.
If you're not into continuity and character history or have a hard time with the Stan Lee brand of story telling, you'd do best to steer away from this book. But if you find yourself reading or collecting the Marvel Masterworks Books, you'd probably find entertainment is this as well.
What if #1 (Volume 1) < Read 21 Sept 2013>
Cover Date : February 1977
Issue Title 'What if Spider-man had joined the Fantastic Four.'
Editor : Roy Thomas
Writer : Roy Thomas
Artist : Jim Craig
Inker : Pablo Marcos
Letter : John Costanza
Cover Price : 0.50 (1.5 cts per page) ( 0.2 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 33
Panels : 196
Dialog Total : 6352
Caption Total : 142
Panels <= 10 Words : 11
Panels per Page : 6
Words per Panel : 33
Words per Page : 197
Story Time Span: At least a period of 6 to 18 months. I'm putting forth this time span as when this tale is related, it covers 14 issues of Fantastic Four and those issue were written at a time when a comic felt like it spanned a month between issues in 'comic time' as well as real time.
Was read in TPB form; What if Classics Volume 1. ISBN: 978-0785117025
While definitely a product of it's time, this comic is still highly enjoyable to read. It harkens back to a day when heroes and villains didn't bleed and if they died, it was implied, not seen. And when killed, it was usually by there own doing, never the hero. While I probably couldn't take a steady diet of this type of story telling, it serves very nicely as 'popcorn' fair. And I like popcorn on a semi-regular basis.
This comic is wordy. Very wordy but not needlessly so. Because the story is retelling an alternate history/timeline, the story references the 'as told' stories and generally tells you what happened in the 'real' marvel universe as opposed to what is happening in the story. Additionally, this still very much in the Stan Lee style of writing where most nouns have a requirement to have a string of adjectives in front of it and verbs must have adverbs. You gotta smile and cringe all at the same time when Namor pulls out the "Ravenous unthinking Flame Eater" plant when he engages the Human Torch in Hand to Hand combat.
The Watcher narrates throughout the story to provide all the backgrounds and forks in the story being told and this works well for the most part. While I think Roy Thomas does a great job editing, it's usually a mistake to be both the writer and editor of the same material. There's a couple of typos as well as a scene or two in the book that contradicts itself within a few panels. I'd like to think a separate set of eyes would have caught these errors.
Part of the Story is almost word for word from the Original Amazing Spider-man #1 Story and the panels are one for one. The new art follows right along with the original version which when studying the story, vice simply reading it, is a kinda cool thing to look at. The newer art has a better perspective to it than the original Ditko art, but either is enjoyable.
While I'm reasonably certain I've read this story before, but had no memory of it and really didn't see where it was headed to until it got there. A nice little twist which probably means more to us readers who remember Namor being a major reoccurring villain of the FF in the early years.
Another nice touch in these older stories is the editor boxes which reference other issues where the story references can be found. I really miss those in todays comics and there are/were very effective at getting me to pull out/find the other issues to clarify events. I really wonder why comics these days don't use these, particularly with Digital comics being available for readers to reach out and impulsively buy should they want to know. Seems like an easy way for the publishers to pick up some extra cash with little effort.
Things that were amusing to note in the writing, Mr. Fantastic calling out to the other members of the FF to "Execute Defense Measure B", The Hypno-Fish used by Namor to capture Sue, Radioactive Clay, Namor's "mental projection" into the Baxter Building to taunt the FF, Spider-man's reaction to being back handed by Namor into the Thing hard enough to break off a hardening fungus that immobilized Ben is "Ouch", and perhaps my Favorite Is Ben Grimm Thinking he's Not heard of a woman keeping her mouth Shut as Long as Sue when she's under water and the Watcher following up the sexist remark with one of his own about Ben not knowing women and how this probably would not shut up most women. Any wonder comics, at least in the past, were not something that girls/women would respond positively to ? And oh yeah, Namor's "ultimate weapon" is a plant that releases gas and he also uses a Giant Scavenger Clam to capture the FF when they enter his part of the ocean. Don't snicker, it used to be and still is in it's own way, great stuff.
The letterer does a wonderful job on the story, helping the story be told clearly. It could not have been easy to write all those words much less find a way to place them on the page without hiding the art. John Costanza was the Winner of the Shazam! award in 1974 for the best letterer and it's easy to understand, for me, why simply based on this one issue.
Jim Craig's art is serviceable and is very much in line with what would have been Marvel House art at the time. The flat colors make it harder to compare yesterday's art to today's style. What is noticeable, or not as the case may be, is backgrounds. They are almost always mono-chromatic as not to get in the way of the foreground art.
My ROI on this one is a solid 7. But's primarily based on me enjoying stories which in turn lead me to other stories. Because this book references so many others, I had to go back and see how they intersected at various times. Roy's editing really stands out here as the timelines and characters seem to be pretty spot on. And I always forget that Peter Parker was referred to as Peter PALMER in the chapter of ASM #1 where he encounters the FF. Seems like it would be a major trivia bit but always stays lost on me.
If you're not into continuity and character history or have a hard time with the Stan Lee brand of story telling, you'd do best to steer away from this book. But if you find yourself reading or collecting the Marvel Masterworks Books, you'd probably find entertainment is this as well.
Sandman #2 by Vertigo
Sandman #2 (Dc Comics Vertigo Imprint) < Read 3 Oct 2013>
Cover Date : February 1989
Issue Title 'Imperfect Hosts'
Editor : Karen Burger
Writer : Neil Gaiman
Artist : Sam Kieth & Mike Drugenberg
Inker : --
Letter : Todd Klein
Colorist : Robbie Busch
Cover Price : 1.50 (6.25 cts per page) ( 1.1 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 24
Panels : 139
Dialog Total : 2268
Caption Total : 47
Panels <= 10 Words : 53
Panels per Page : 5.8
Words per Panel : 16.7
Words per Page : 96.5
Median Words per Page: 111
Story Time Span: 8 - 16 Hours
Was read in TPB form; Sandman : Preludes and Nocturnes Volume 1. ISBN: 978-1401225759 .
With the announcement of Neil Gaiman doing a prequel to this story, I thought I'd read the first volume to see what the buzz was about. When this story was originally published, I was reading very few titles at the time and this one was completely off my radar. I've read a couple of Gaiman's Novels so I had reason to believe I would enjoy this as well. And I was wrong. Wasn't that I didn't enjoy it, it just did not move me with the desire to read more.
As with Gaiman's Novels, the book is paced very evenly. You never feel like the story is dragging, but by the same token it never feels like it's builds to a crescendo. He uses primarily dialog to tell the story though there is a sequence of three panels where is uses captions to explain what is happening within the panels. I was surprised to find many DC comics characters I recognized or were referenced. I thought this title was suppose to be outside the DCU but Arkham Asylum is featured within and a cape or cowl (Batman, Green Lantern) is mentioned. Makes me wonder about the static around John Constantine 'returning' to the DCU proper or Death back in Action comics (pre New 52).
The inclusion of Cain and Abel in the story brought a smile to my face. The House of Mystery & Secrets titles were something I used to read. The characters played relatively true to form from what I remember about their relationship. The story itself is simply a smaller part or chapter to a larger story arc being played out. While the book has a clear beginning, middle and end, I didn't feel like I'd necessarily gotten my money's worth from the story. And probably a stronger negative comment would be that I felt absolutely no need to flip to the next comic in the Trade. Given the popularity of this saga, I'm obvious very much in the minority.
Unlike many more modern comics I've been reading, there isn't a single page in the book that doesn't have some dialog on it. And only a single page had more than 150 words on it. But even with words upon each page, the artists had room to flex their muscles when they desired. Some of the panels borders are elaborate and while I don't normally care for Sam Kieth's art style, it is well suited to the story being told here.
The Colorist & Letterer both deserve some accolades for their work as it doesn't detract from the story being told. Instead the colorist palette selection and the letterers treatment of the words enhances the presentation and well as lending a distinct voice to the characters. These two jobs, Colorist & Letterer, don't usually receive a lot of attention in comics but on books such as this they should be singled out.
My ROI on this book would be a 5 out of 10. And I'm not going to credit the actual story with making it that high. It's more all of the references within which beg for research into a part of the DCU I'm only vaguely familiar with. There's Doctor Destiny, the Witching Hour Trio (Hecateae) , Lucien, Brute, Glob and more. If I wasn't a long time comic reader, many of these names would not convey a sense of back story / history.
Cover Date : February 1989
Issue Title 'Imperfect Hosts'
Editor : Karen Burger
Writer : Neil Gaiman
Artist : Sam Kieth & Mike Drugenberg
Inker : --
Letter : Todd Klein
Colorist : Robbie Busch
Cover Price : 1.50 (6.25 cts per page) ( 1.1 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 24
Panels : 139
Dialog Total : 2268
Caption Total : 47
Panels <= 10 Words : 53
Panels per Page : 5.8
Words per Panel : 16.7
Words per Page : 96.5
Median Words per Page: 111
Story Time Span: 8 - 16 Hours
Was read in TPB form; Sandman : Preludes and Nocturnes Volume 1. ISBN: 978-1401225759 .
With the announcement of Neil Gaiman doing a prequel to this story, I thought I'd read the first volume to see what the buzz was about. When this story was originally published, I was reading very few titles at the time and this one was completely off my radar. I've read a couple of Gaiman's Novels so I had reason to believe I would enjoy this as well. And I was wrong. Wasn't that I didn't enjoy it, it just did not move me with the desire to read more.
As with Gaiman's Novels, the book is paced very evenly. You never feel like the story is dragging, but by the same token it never feels like it's builds to a crescendo. He uses primarily dialog to tell the story though there is a sequence of three panels where is uses captions to explain what is happening within the panels. I was surprised to find many DC comics characters I recognized or were referenced. I thought this title was suppose to be outside the DCU but Arkham Asylum is featured within and a cape or cowl (Batman, Green Lantern) is mentioned. Makes me wonder about the static around John Constantine 'returning' to the DCU proper or Death back in Action comics (pre New 52).
The inclusion of Cain and Abel in the story brought a smile to my face. The House of Mystery & Secrets titles were something I used to read. The characters played relatively true to form from what I remember about their relationship. The story itself is simply a smaller part or chapter to a larger story arc being played out. While the book has a clear beginning, middle and end, I didn't feel like I'd necessarily gotten my money's worth from the story. And probably a stronger negative comment would be that I felt absolutely no need to flip to the next comic in the Trade. Given the popularity of this saga, I'm obvious very much in the minority.
Unlike many more modern comics I've been reading, there isn't a single page in the book that doesn't have some dialog on it. And only a single page had more than 150 words on it. But even with words upon each page, the artists had room to flex their muscles when they desired. Some of the panels borders are elaborate and while I don't normally care for Sam Kieth's art style, it is well suited to the story being told here.
The Colorist & Letterer both deserve some accolades for their work as it doesn't detract from the story being told. Instead the colorist palette selection and the letterers treatment of the words enhances the presentation and well as lending a distinct voice to the characters. These two jobs, Colorist & Letterer, don't usually receive a lot of attention in comics but on books such as this they should be singled out.
My ROI on this book would be a 5 out of 10. And I'm not going to credit the actual story with making it that high. It's more all of the references within which beg for research into a part of the DCU I'm only vaguely familiar with. There's Doctor Destiny, the Witching Hour Trio (Hecateae) , Lucien, Brute, Glob and more. If I wasn't a long time comic reader, many of these names would not convey a sense of back story / history.
Last edited by jonah on Sat Nov 02, 2013 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
Grimm Fairy Tales : Beyond Wonderland #1
Grimm Fairy Tales:Beyond Wonderland #1 (Zenescope Entertainment) < Read 10 Oct 2013>
Cover Date : July 2008
Issue Title 'Beyond Wonderland'
Editor : Raven Gregory ('Executive Editor')
Writer : Raven Gregory
Artist : Dan Leister
Inker : --
Letter : Michael De Lepine
Colorist : Nei Ruffino
Cover Price : 2.99 (11.5 cts per page) (3 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 26
Panels : 101
Dialog Total : 1741
Caption Total : 44
Panels <= 10 Words : 49
Panels per Page : 4
Words per Panel : 17.2
Words per Page : 67
Median Words per Page: 43
Story Time Span: 8 - 16 Hours
Was read in Digital form using Comixology's Guided View Mode.
Probably not something I would normally have gravitated toward but Comixology had a price on the Trilogy that I couldn't pass up so I picked this up as well as the preceding and next book in line. I had read the previous volume prior to reading this book and I was underwhelmed so I wasn't expecting too much here. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked this book well enough to look forward to the next issue.
This issue is strictly set up and a recap of the previous series. It's done within the context of the story well enough that the previous issues are not required reading. I'd actually recommend skipping the first volume of the story.
Zenescope has a reputation for producing a certain 'type' of book and this one falls within those expectations. The art is nice cheese cake but the artist does a good job of laying out the sequential art to tell the story so It's not just pretty pictures.
The story is … predictable. It's fairly light on words compared to other comics of this length however with only a average of four panels per page, the dialog doesn't disappear. Weighing in a 17 words per panel actually makes it as 'wordy' as the previous issue of Sandman discussed earlier. Unlike Sandman however, this dialog feels very dumbed down. It could simply be that the characters within the book aren't portrayed to be very old, deep, or bright. Think of a bad CW show and you've got the tone of the dialog.
The telling of the story is uneven as about half the words appear in just six of the twenty six pages. About half of the pages are given over to the art and probably deservedly so. Leister's art is nice to look at and tells the story when the words don't. The Colorist does a nice job rendering Leister's art, enhancing it, while the Letterer neither adds nor detracts from the story.
A minor gripe which is probably a function of the editor/writer being the same individual. On page fourteen, the female character utters the words "..No. It's Can't be." I was reading along smoothly and that was like getting my foot caught on a rug and tripping. There really should be a rule about the editor and writer not being the same person.
The ROI on this book is a 4 in my opinion. A forgettable read but worth revisiting for the art.
Cover Date : July 2008
Issue Title 'Beyond Wonderland'
Editor : Raven Gregory ('Executive Editor')
Writer : Raven Gregory
Artist : Dan Leister
Inker : --
Letter : Michael De Lepine
Colorist : Nei Ruffino
Cover Price : 2.99 (11.5 cts per page) (3 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 26
Panels : 101
Dialog Total : 1741
Caption Total : 44
Panels <= 10 Words : 49
Panels per Page : 4
Words per Panel : 17.2
Words per Page : 67
Median Words per Page: 43
Story Time Span: 8 - 16 Hours
Was read in Digital form using Comixology's Guided View Mode.
Probably not something I would normally have gravitated toward but Comixology had a price on the Trilogy that I couldn't pass up so I picked this up as well as the preceding and next book in line. I had read the previous volume prior to reading this book and I was underwhelmed so I wasn't expecting too much here. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked this book well enough to look forward to the next issue.
This issue is strictly set up and a recap of the previous series. It's done within the context of the story well enough that the previous issues are not required reading. I'd actually recommend skipping the first volume of the story.
Zenescope has a reputation for producing a certain 'type' of book and this one falls within those expectations. The art is nice cheese cake but the artist does a good job of laying out the sequential art to tell the story so It's not just pretty pictures.
The story is … predictable. It's fairly light on words compared to other comics of this length however with only a average of four panels per page, the dialog doesn't disappear. Weighing in a 17 words per panel actually makes it as 'wordy' as the previous issue of Sandman discussed earlier. Unlike Sandman however, this dialog feels very dumbed down. It could simply be that the characters within the book aren't portrayed to be very old, deep, or bright. Think of a bad CW show and you've got the tone of the dialog.
The telling of the story is uneven as about half the words appear in just six of the twenty six pages. About half of the pages are given over to the art and probably deservedly so. Leister's art is nice to look at and tells the story when the words don't. The Colorist does a nice job rendering Leister's art, enhancing it, while the Letterer neither adds nor detracts from the story.
A minor gripe which is probably a function of the editor/writer being the same individual. On page fourteen, the female character utters the words "..No. It's Can't be." I was reading along smoothly and that was like getting my foot caught on a rug and tripping. There really should be a rule about the editor and writer not being the same person.
The ROI on this book is a 4 in my opinion. A forgettable read but worth revisiting for the art.
Last edited by jonah on Sat Nov 02, 2013 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Grimm Fairy Tales : Beyond Wonderland #1
I completely agree. Part of the advantage of having an editor is to have someone who didn't help create the story look it over and point out possible shortcomings of it.jonah wrote:There really should be a rule about the editor and writer not being the same person.
I'd also recommend against having the writer being the editor's boss or his boss's boss. Over at DC there have been some titles over the years that were written by someone like Denny O'Neil or Dan Didio and it sometimes felt like the editor might have or should have been able to bring more value to the table but didn't and that always made me wonder if the writer being higher on the totem pole at DC somehow factored into that. Maybe it didn't but I was never sure.
Re: Grimm Fairy Tales : Beyond Wonderland #1
While I agree that Zenescope has a certain reputation, and it is well deserved I still find that they produce some fun entertaining comics. While I don't read all the Zenescope books I usually read one or two a month. I have read Grimm Fairy Tales on and off but have found the miniseries completely unrelated to the Grimm Universe to be my favorite. I am currently 5 (of 6) issues into Screwed and am absolutely loving it. I can't wait for the final issue and may even pick up the collected edition. I'm also going to pick up B.A.R. Maid #1 of 5 (solicited in the current Previews). Unfortunately due to their reputation for cheesecake and a million covers (often with much weaker interior art) I think many comic fans completely overlook some fun and entertaining comics.jonah wrote: Zenescope has a reputation for producing a certain 'type' of book and this one falls within those expectations. The art is nice cheese cake but the artist does a good job of laying out the sequential art to tell the story so It's not just pretty pictures.
Re: Words, panels and pages in Books
Personally, I'd be more likely to try on Zenescope titles if they included samples of the interior art in Previews.
Morning Glories #1
Morning Glories #1 (Image Comics) < Read 19 Oct 2013>
Cover Date : Aug 2010
Issue Title ''
Editor :
Writer : Nick Spencer
Artist : Joe Eisma
Inker : Joe Eisma
Letter : Johnny Lowe
Colorist : Alex Sollazzo
Cover Price : 3.99 (9 cts per page) (2 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 44
Panels : 196
Dialog Total : 3781
Caption Total : 7
Panels <= 10 Words : 78
Panels per Page : 4.5
Words per Panel : 19
Words per Page : 86
Median Words per Page: 82
Story Time Span: Takes place over the course of a single day
Was read in Digital form using Comixology's Guided View Mode. Previously read in Comic Form when it first came out.
I had initially read this when it first hit the rack in 2010. It was extremely well hyped / advertised as the next 'big thing.' Not sure it hit the 'big thing' mark but it definitely made you want to read the next issue; the mark of success for any first issue in a new series.
The story starts off with a mystery, followed but another mystery, followed by several more mysteries. The first scene has absolutely no context so you would expect the scene develop as the story flows. It doesn't as the next scene uses 10 pages to set up the mysteries surrounding the Morning Glory academy. The scenes that follow are cast of characters introductions. Spencer does a very good job of introducing the cast of characters in what is best described as methodical. Each gets a page or two which shows their defining personality characteristic. What few captions there are in the book are mostly found around the introductions as the caption gives the location. Spencer does use the dialog or scenery for a couple of the characters, but by using the captions, the dialog feels less forced and allows some of the scenes to be more generalized. The repetition used in the scenes reminds me of the old mission impossible TV show where each character's file was read aloud to Mr. Phelps thus quickly establishing the who/what of that person. This could have felt bad but Spencer and Eisma pull it off flawlessly.
With the cast introduced into the Morning Glory setting, the story tosses in a few more mysteries and as multiple part stories tend to do, leave on you on a cliff hanger. And while on the other mysteries were having me want more and providing a sense of depth in the story, the cliff hanger kinda hit me with a 'huh?' and not necessarily a good way. I haven't reread the second issue yet so the cliff hangar may resolve in such a way that leaves/left me satisfied. I have read up through the first three trades and haven't read sense then. Primarily because I wanted to go back and read it from the beginning as I lost the story/plot/setup when I was reading it in monthly issues. Having now reread the first issue, I don't remember any of the initially mysteries as having be resolved. On the plus side it means I get to explore this world all over again like it's new. On the down side, the story wasn't good enough to stick. Could just be me.
Joe Eisma's art is .. adequate. And that may seem harsh but there's nothing about the rendering itself which is special. What is good/greatish about Eisma is his art's story telling. It lays out the story nicely and his use of the same art in multiple panels paces the story beautifully. When I first read through the book, I felt he was cheating. Then I developed a great appreciation for how the art was creating the pace rather than my reading or the story. A lot of artists who do what I consider better rendering, do not tell stories nearly this good.
The letterer and colorist don't add or subtract from the story. Considering how good the story is being told in both word and art, the color and lettering not standing in the way (pro or con) is a good thing.
The ROI on this book is a 8 in my opinion. It's been about 3 years since I read it the first time and I find myself nearly as excited to reread it. A good investment. Good buy it.
Cover Date : Aug 2010
Issue Title ''
Editor :
Writer : Nick Spencer
Artist : Joe Eisma
Inker : Joe Eisma
Letter : Johnny Lowe
Colorist : Alex Sollazzo
Cover Price : 3.99 (9 cts per page) (2 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 44
Panels : 196
Dialog Total : 3781
Caption Total : 7
Panels <= 10 Words : 78
Panels per Page : 4.5
Words per Panel : 19
Words per Page : 86
Median Words per Page: 82
Story Time Span: Takes place over the course of a single day
Was read in Digital form using Comixology's Guided View Mode. Previously read in Comic Form when it first came out.
I had initially read this when it first hit the rack in 2010. It was extremely well hyped / advertised as the next 'big thing.' Not sure it hit the 'big thing' mark but it definitely made you want to read the next issue; the mark of success for any first issue in a new series.
The story starts off with a mystery, followed but another mystery, followed by several more mysteries. The first scene has absolutely no context so you would expect the scene develop as the story flows. It doesn't as the next scene uses 10 pages to set up the mysteries surrounding the Morning Glory academy. The scenes that follow are cast of characters introductions. Spencer does a very good job of introducing the cast of characters in what is best described as methodical. Each gets a page or two which shows their defining personality characteristic. What few captions there are in the book are mostly found around the introductions as the caption gives the location. Spencer does use the dialog or scenery for a couple of the characters, but by using the captions, the dialog feels less forced and allows some of the scenes to be more generalized. The repetition used in the scenes reminds me of the old mission impossible TV show where each character's file was read aloud to Mr. Phelps thus quickly establishing the who/what of that person. This could have felt bad but Spencer and Eisma pull it off flawlessly.
With the cast introduced into the Morning Glory setting, the story tosses in a few more mysteries and as multiple part stories tend to do, leave on you on a cliff hanger. And while on the other mysteries were having me want more and providing a sense of depth in the story, the cliff hanger kinda hit me with a 'huh?' and not necessarily a good way. I haven't reread the second issue yet so the cliff hangar may resolve in such a way that leaves/left me satisfied. I have read up through the first three trades and haven't read sense then. Primarily because I wanted to go back and read it from the beginning as I lost the story/plot/setup when I was reading it in monthly issues. Having now reread the first issue, I don't remember any of the initially mysteries as having be resolved. On the plus side it means I get to explore this world all over again like it's new. On the down side, the story wasn't good enough to stick. Could just be me.
Joe Eisma's art is .. adequate. And that may seem harsh but there's nothing about the rendering itself which is special. What is good/greatish about Eisma is his art's story telling. It lays out the story nicely and his use of the same art in multiple panels paces the story beautifully. When I first read through the book, I felt he was cheating. Then I developed a great appreciation for how the art was creating the pace rather than my reading or the story. A lot of artists who do what I consider better rendering, do not tell stories nearly this good.
The letterer and colorist don't add or subtract from the story. Considering how good the story is being told in both word and art, the color and lettering not standing in the way (pro or con) is a good thing.
The ROI on this book is a 8 in my opinion. It's been about 3 years since I read it the first time and I find myself nearly as excited to reread it. A good investment. Good buy it.
Last edited by jonah on Sat Nov 02, 2013 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Harbinger #0
Harbinger #0 (Valiant Entertainment) < Read 25 Oct 2013>
Cover Date : Feb 2013
Issue Title ''The Omega Age"
Editor : Jody LeHeup
Writer : Joshua Dysart
Artist : Mico Suayan & Pere Perez
Inker : -
Letter : Dave Lanphear & Rob Sheen
Colorist : Brian Reber
Cover Price : 3.99 (17 cts per page) (3.5 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 23
Panels : 113
Dialog Total : 1852
Caption Total : 113
Panels <= 10 Words : 42
Panels per Page : 5
Words per Panel : 17.4
Words per Page : 85.4
Median Words per Page: 98
Story Time Span: A couple of Hours for story being told in current time, weeks for story being told in retrospect.
Was read in Digital form using Comixology's Guided View Mode.
I've been reading the Harbinger story as time permits since it came out and have throughly enjoyed everything I've read up to this point including this story. This issue stands alone and adds depth to one of the characters from the ongoing story. Not included in my word count is an opening page which gives context for the story to come. The three paragraphs total 175 words and are really all that is needed to center you for the story that is told in the next 23 pages.
The story is solid from front to back. The protagonist of the story is relating an event from his past life to another character in current time while they are actively engaged in the current time line. It's done seamlessly with the two different artists rendering the different stories making it that much clearer. Roughly 10 of the pages are dedicated to the current timeline with the others being used to tell the other story.
The writer uses captions a bit more than we normally see in today's story telling but they serve the purpose to set the scene, identify a character, provide a time or place, etc and thus keep the story flowing rather than having the artist use 2 to 5 panels to accomplish the same thing. Also keeps the dialog more natural rather than having a character force in a name or place as part of their dialog. The only place it distracted me was having to use the captions to point out what was in some containers sitting behind one of the characters.
This books was actually a little lite as far as dialog goes but the inclusion of the context piece rounded the count up above 2000 which is closer to what I'm expecting from a modern comic.
Wish that more comics would tell these types of one shot stories where you don't feel like they're throw aways or interruptions. I walked away with a good story and a deeper understanding of a character from the on-going saga.
On the art side, Perez's & Suayan's art is spot on for the portion of the story they are telling. Suayan's art is particularly haunting as it evokes the atmosphere of a nuclear aftermath much as I would image it. While reading through the book the second time, I did wonder if younger readers would be impacted by a nuclear event as those of us that were reared during the duck & cover era or at least extending out to the cold war. Think chemical weapons may be more relevant as a harbinger of doom these days. Regardless, Suayan's art is worth pouring over. The digital version contains a few pages of his pencils without color and you can see he's providing all the detail and it's not being lost in the inking or coloring.
My ROI on this book is only a 6 out of 10 as the price per page is pretty steep. I'll probably reread this story over time but it probably won't be relevant to any story points in the current story. If I'm wrong about that, then the ROI my step up 1.
Cover Date : Feb 2013
Issue Title ''The Omega Age"
Editor : Jody LeHeup
Writer : Joshua Dysart
Artist : Mico Suayan & Pere Perez
Inker : -
Letter : Dave Lanphear & Rob Sheen
Colorist : Brian Reber
Cover Price : 3.99 (17 cts per page) (3.5 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 23
Panels : 113
Dialog Total : 1852
Caption Total : 113
Panels <= 10 Words : 42
Panels per Page : 5
Words per Panel : 17.4
Words per Page : 85.4
Median Words per Page: 98
Story Time Span: A couple of Hours for story being told in current time, weeks for story being told in retrospect.
Was read in Digital form using Comixology's Guided View Mode.
I've been reading the Harbinger story as time permits since it came out and have throughly enjoyed everything I've read up to this point including this story. This issue stands alone and adds depth to one of the characters from the ongoing story. Not included in my word count is an opening page which gives context for the story to come. The three paragraphs total 175 words and are really all that is needed to center you for the story that is told in the next 23 pages.
The story is solid from front to back. The protagonist of the story is relating an event from his past life to another character in current time while they are actively engaged in the current time line. It's done seamlessly with the two different artists rendering the different stories making it that much clearer. Roughly 10 of the pages are dedicated to the current timeline with the others being used to tell the other story.
The writer uses captions a bit more than we normally see in today's story telling but they serve the purpose to set the scene, identify a character, provide a time or place, etc and thus keep the story flowing rather than having the artist use 2 to 5 panels to accomplish the same thing. Also keeps the dialog more natural rather than having a character force in a name or place as part of their dialog. The only place it distracted me was having to use the captions to point out what was in some containers sitting behind one of the characters.
This books was actually a little lite as far as dialog goes but the inclusion of the context piece rounded the count up above 2000 which is closer to what I'm expecting from a modern comic.
Wish that more comics would tell these types of one shot stories where you don't feel like they're throw aways or interruptions. I walked away with a good story and a deeper understanding of a character from the on-going saga.
On the art side, Perez's & Suayan's art is spot on for the portion of the story they are telling. Suayan's art is particularly haunting as it evokes the atmosphere of a nuclear aftermath much as I would image it. While reading through the book the second time, I did wonder if younger readers would be impacted by a nuclear event as those of us that were reared during the duck & cover era or at least extending out to the cold war. Think chemical weapons may be more relevant as a harbinger of doom these days. Regardless, Suayan's art is worth pouring over. The digital version contains a few pages of his pencils without color and you can see he's providing all the detail and it's not being lost in the inking or coloring.
My ROI on this book is only a 6 out of 10 as the price per page is pretty steep. I'll probably reread this story over time but it probably won't be relevant to any story points in the current story. If I'm wrong about that, then the ROI my step up 1.
Talon #1 by DC Comics
Talon #1 (DC Comics) < Read 01 Nov 2013>
Cover Date : Dec 2012
Issue Title ''The Gotham Trap"
Editor : Mike Marts
Writer : James Tynion IV
Artist : Guillem March
Inker : -
Letter : Sal Cipriano
Colorist : Tomeu Morey
Cover Price : 2.99 (15 cts per page) (2.8 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 105
Dialog Total : 2025
Caption Total : 2
Panels <= 10 Words : 50
Panels per Page : 5.25
Words per Panel : 19
Words per Page : 101
Median Words per Page: 99
Story Time Span: A 24 hour period
Was read in Digital form using Comixology's Full page Mode.
I came into this book with no expectations. I had heard John mention during one of the weekly comic podcasts that he had read it and it wasn't bad. Not strong praise but not damning either. I did read the Court of Owls story as it went through the batman books and had neither a strong positive or negative reaction to it. Mostly I just wanted it over as it seemed to drag on too long. So, I understood the back story of the court of owls going into this book though I don't remember if Calvin Rose was featured in the Batman books.
When I read through these books for these write ups, I generally go through them 3 to 4 times. The first time is always to read for pleasure. When I was reading this for the first time, I felt the story was very much along the lines of Arichie Goodwin & Walt Simonson's Manhunter story in the Early 70's. Only I thought Manhunter was a much cooler character … this could simply be an age thing. Also, the Manhunter story was told in backups (i.e. shorter stories) but it captured my attention right away. This story left me left me feeling indifferent towards the character of Calvin Rose.
The story was all set up with no payoff. And I felt the set up was a bit weak. If I hadn't read the court of owls story before this, they would have meant little or nothing to me. The Talon that engages Calvin Rose is a throw away villain. Calvin Rose himself is defined in the 20 pages as 1) The courts once greatest assassin, 2) an escape artist who lost his way, and 3) ran away to protect a woman. His fighting skills are displayed adequately as is his work with blades. The escape artist aspect of the character is mildly touched on as Guillem March uses panel design to focus in on the character performing small acts that would validate his escape artist nature.
The bulk of the words in the bulk are an ongoing monologue Calvin Rose has with himself and the dialog exchanged between himself and Sebastian Clark both which are used to explain the history and motivations of the characters.
You may notice that I'm using the characters name, Calvin Rose, throughout this write up. The writer does the same thing as well to the point where it is unnatural in some parts of the dialog. Generally, we people are talking to each other, they only use a name once to get the other person's attention. After that the conversation is focused towards each other so it isn't necessary. During an ongoing dialog between the characters, Calvin's name is called out seven different times. This may have been to reinforce the name for the reader, which it did, but it did become noticeable after the 3rd or 4th time. Also during the fight with the Talon, the Talon uses Calvin's name or last name in three instances. And at four other times his name is called out. Good writing style or over kill ? I'll definitely remember the characters name but also how it was over used in this particular book.
The word count, panels per page, words per panel, etc are pretty average when compared to the books I read through before. Only two words are used in caption 'Across Town…' which I believe is the write use for captions i.e. setting time, place, etc in order to get to the action quicker.
Guillem March's art is what I think of as good comic art. Alone it is nothing that would draw me to a book but he doesn't detract from a book either. His story telling is also up to par. As mentioned above, he used small panel's to highlight certain things the character was doing, such as pulling a knife from a pant leg and slipping a line/wire out of his uniform thus eluding to certain aspects of the characters skill set. I do wish the colorist had helped highlight these panels a bit more as it was easy to lose those details on some of the busier pages. When I switched to the panel guided mode in the comixology app, those details weren't lost and others were brought out.
Neither the letterer and colorist added or took away anything from the story. I am glad I read this in digital form as the use of white lettering on a black background can often challenge me eyes on the printed page if the font isn't large enough.
My ROI on this book is a 5 out of 10 but only assuming I read more of the series at some point. There are enough touch points in this set up to reference again to see if the writer follows through on them.
Cover Date : Dec 2012
Issue Title ''The Gotham Trap"
Editor : Mike Marts
Writer : James Tynion IV
Artist : Guillem March
Inker : -
Letter : Sal Cipriano
Colorist : Tomeu Morey
Cover Price : 2.99 (15 cts per page) (2.8 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 105
Dialog Total : 2025
Caption Total : 2
Panels <= 10 Words : 50
Panels per Page : 5.25
Words per Panel : 19
Words per Page : 101
Median Words per Page: 99
Story Time Span: A 24 hour period
Was read in Digital form using Comixology's Full page Mode.
I came into this book with no expectations. I had heard John mention during one of the weekly comic podcasts that he had read it and it wasn't bad. Not strong praise but not damning either. I did read the Court of Owls story as it went through the batman books and had neither a strong positive or negative reaction to it. Mostly I just wanted it over as it seemed to drag on too long. So, I understood the back story of the court of owls going into this book though I don't remember if Calvin Rose was featured in the Batman books.
When I read through these books for these write ups, I generally go through them 3 to 4 times. The first time is always to read for pleasure. When I was reading this for the first time, I felt the story was very much along the lines of Arichie Goodwin & Walt Simonson's Manhunter story in the Early 70's. Only I thought Manhunter was a much cooler character … this could simply be an age thing. Also, the Manhunter story was told in backups (i.e. shorter stories) but it captured my attention right away. This story left me left me feeling indifferent towards the character of Calvin Rose.
The story was all set up with no payoff. And I felt the set up was a bit weak. If I hadn't read the court of owls story before this, they would have meant little or nothing to me. The Talon that engages Calvin Rose is a throw away villain. Calvin Rose himself is defined in the 20 pages as 1) The courts once greatest assassin, 2) an escape artist who lost his way, and 3) ran away to protect a woman. His fighting skills are displayed adequately as is his work with blades. The escape artist aspect of the character is mildly touched on as Guillem March uses panel design to focus in on the character performing small acts that would validate his escape artist nature.
The bulk of the words in the bulk are an ongoing monologue Calvin Rose has with himself and the dialog exchanged between himself and Sebastian Clark both which are used to explain the history and motivations of the characters.
You may notice that I'm using the characters name, Calvin Rose, throughout this write up. The writer does the same thing as well to the point where it is unnatural in some parts of the dialog. Generally, we people are talking to each other, they only use a name once to get the other person's attention. After that the conversation is focused towards each other so it isn't necessary. During an ongoing dialog between the characters, Calvin's name is called out seven different times. This may have been to reinforce the name for the reader, which it did, but it did become noticeable after the 3rd or 4th time. Also during the fight with the Talon, the Talon uses Calvin's name or last name in three instances. And at four other times his name is called out. Good writing style or over kill ? I'll definitely remember the characters name but also how it was over used in this particular book.
The word count, panels per page, words per panel, etc are pretty average when compared to the books I read through before. Only two words are used in caption 'Across Town…' which I believe is the write use for captions i.e. setting time, place, etc in order to get to the action quicker.
Guillem March's art is what I think of as good comic art. Alone it is nothing that would draw me to a book but he doesn't detract from a book either. His story telling is also up to par. As mentioned above, he used small panel's to highlight certain things the character was doing, such as pulling a knife from a pant leg and slipping a line/wire out of his uniform thus eluding to certain aspects of the characters skill set. I do wish the colorist had helped highlight these panels a bit more as it was easy to lose those details on some of the busier pages. When I switched to the panel guided mode in the comixology app, those details weren't lost and others were brought out.
Neither the letterer and colorist added or took away anything from the story. I am glad I read this in digital form as the use of white lettering on a black background can often challenge me eyes on the printed page if the font isn't large enough.
My ROI on this book is a 5 out of 10 but only assuming I read more of the series at some point. There are enough touch points in this set up to reference again to see if the writer follows through on them.
Chew #1 (Image Comics)
Chew #1 (Image Comics) < Read 08 Nov 2013>
Cover Date : June 2009
Issue Title ''Taster's Choice"
Editor : Not listed
Writer : John Layman
Artist : Rob Guillory
Inker : Rob Guillory
Letter : John Layman
Colorist : Rob Guillory
Cover Price : 2.99 (14 cts per page) (2.6 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 22
Panels : 115
Dialog Total : 1989
Caption Total : 194
Panels <= 10 Words : 53
Panels per Page : 5
Words per Panel : 19
Words per Page : 99
Median Words per Page: 97
Story Time Span: Less than 12 Hours (Told within a single night)
Was read in Digital form using Comixology's Full page Mode.
This is the type of comic book I should not enjoy. I tend to like capes & cowls with pencils, inks, and colors done pretty much along house style standards. None of that to be found here. That said, I throughly enjoyed this book and acquired to the next five trades (thank you Ebay) to continue reading about Tony Chu, the books protagonist.
The book's caption's are used primarily to tell you about the character or circumstances. I do prefer this method of discovery versus the artist & story having to account for them. In the course of one page you get want Tony's particular condition is about and then on with the story.
The story is a very nice done and one kind of story. It's your basic cop stake out gone bad but the bad guy get's it in the end however Tony's partner is injured. Also Tony is being about to be suspended/throw off the force due to his unusual methods of acquiring evidence . The last page provides a logical out for Tony and sets the path for the ongoing storyline. A few other nuggets are sprinkled in the story which I hope are revisited in later issues. This book should be handed to every writer who is writing a first issue as an example of what a first issue should accomplish. And he did it with the typical 2200 words in 22 pages. Standing O. Interestingly, 33% of the words are contained in 3 pages and 50% in 5 pages which would lead you to believe that action/story would feel uneven.
Wrong.
The artist makes the story work as much as the writer. While not my flavor of rendering, completely appropriate for the story type. If this had been done with typical house art, it would have been unnecessarily gory/bloody. While the art might be considered a little 'cartoony,' it isn't as the violence that is shown would not be mistaken for humor on any level. There's a two page spread (12/13) which is amazing to look at. By enlarging it on the iPad I got a real sense of what Tony was seeing. The artist also does the inks and colors. And for this type of comic book, the art is perfect in it's simplicity, complexity and storytelling.
The Lettering is done by the writer and is also a cut above average. One particular instance of lettering to tell the story was on page 20. The letterer choose to run four words down vertically which gave more gravity to the posture of the character on page as well as giving the character's tone.
The melding of the story, art, lettering, coloring by this two man creative team shows how much can be accomplish by two people. Because I saw no editor listed, I assume it was them and no one else critiquing their work. Yes, two people can produce an awesome book.
My ROI on this book is a 8 out of 10. The story reads very well and the two page spread can be poured over for as long as you want. As the start of an ongoing, there's plenty of material to refer back to as time goes on.
Cover Date : June 2009
Issue Title ''Taster's Choice"
Editor : Not listed
Writer : John Layman
Artist : Rob Guillory
Inker : Rob Guillory
Letter : John Layman
Colorist : Rob Guillory
Cover Price : 2.99 (14 cts per page) (2.6 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 22
Panels : 115
Dialog Total : 1989
Caption Total : 194
Panels <= 10 Words : 53
Panels per Page : 5
Words per Panel : 19
Words per Page : 99
Median Words per Page: 97
Story Time Span: Less than 12 Hours (Told within a single night)
Was read in Digital form using Comixology's Full page Mode.
This is the type of comic book I should not enjoy. I tend to like capes & cowls with pencils, inks, and colors done pretty much along house style standards. None of that to be found here. That said, I throughly enjoyed this book and acquired to the next five trades (thank you Ebay) to continue reading about Tony Chu, the books protagonist.
The book's caption's are used primarily to tell you about the character or circumstances. I do prefer this method of discovery versus the artist & story having to account for them. In the course of one page you get want Tony's particular condition is about and then on with the story.
The story is a very nice done and one kind of story. It's your basic cop stake out gone bad but the bad guy get's it in the end however Tony's partner is injured. Also Tony is being about to be suspended/throw off the force due to his unusual methods of acquiring evidence . The last page provides a logical out for Tony and sets the path for the ongoing storyline. A few other nuggets are sprinkled in the story which I hope are revisited in later issues. This book should be handed to every writer who is writing a first issue as an example of what a first issue should accomplish. And he did it with the typical 2200 words in 22 pages. Standing O. Interestingly, 33% of the words are contained in 3 pages and 50% in 5 pages which would lead you to believe that action/story would feel uneven.
Wrong.
The artist makes the story work as much as the writer. While not my flavor of rendering, completely appropriate for the story type. If this had been done with typical house art, it would have been unnecessarily gory/bloody. While the art might be considered a little 'cartoony,' it isn't as the violence that is shown would not be mistaken for humor on any level. There's a two page spread (12/13) which is amazing to look at. By enlarging it on the iPad I got a real sense of what Tony was seeing. The artist also does the inks and colors. And for this type of comic book, the art is perfect in it's simplicity, complexity and storytelling.
The Lettering is done by the writer and is also a cut above average. One particular instance of lettering to tell the story was on page 20. The letterer choose to run four words down vertically which gave more gravity to the posture of the character on page as well as giving the character's tone.
The melding of the story, art, lettering, coloring by this two man creative team shows how much can be accomplish by two people. Because I saw no editor listed, I assume it was them and no one else critiquing their work. Yes, two people can produce an awesome book.
My ROI on this book is a 8 out of 10. The story reads very well and the two page spread can be poured over for as long as you want. As the start of an ongoing, there's plenty of material to refer back to as time goes on.
Hulk #9 (Marvel Comics)
Hulk #9 (Marvel Comics) < Read 15 Nov 2013>
Cover Date : Aug 2012
Issue Title ''"
Editor : Mark Paniccia
Writer : Jason Aaron
Artist : Pasqual Ferry
Inker : Pasqual Ferry
Letter : Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist : Jesus Aburtov
Cover Price : 3.99 (20 cts per page) (4.7 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 85
Dialog Total : 1349
Caption Total : 58
Panels <= 10 Words : 42
Panels per Page : 4.25
Words per Panel : 16.5
Words per Page : 70
Median Words per Page: 53
Story Time Span: Less than 1 day, Primarily 1 Hour or Less
Was read in Trade Paper Back form.
Wow, was this a waste of time & Money. Short on words, short on panel count, and standing alone, appears to have had absolutely no purpose other than to mark time. Poorly.
I don't necessarily believe that every comic needs to add to the hero's story, but they should at least provide the reader with some form of entertainment or at least something to mull over. If the story doesn't move the reader, then some piece of art should. This book provides nothing, zero, zip, nada to think about, smile about, or recommend to anyone.
Story goes, Hulk wakes up under water, Hulk Hits things, Hulk Falls asleep, Hulk Wakes up in Space. Fade to Black.
This is a fairly standard story for 'classic hulk', but this is intelligent hulk and Aaron was using this to good purpose prior to this issue and the two before it. Instead he's pretty much hitting squids & riding whales. I'm thinking this story was phoned in or was being used as filler to develop a Trade.
The art, lettering and coloring are fine. Nothing to add or detract from the story being told. Which is a shame because the story would have benefitted. Immensely.
My ROI on this book is a 0 out of 10. If you haven't read this already, don't waste your time even though it would only take a few minutes. And don't let anyone else read it as a first comic as they would never read a second.
Cover Date : Aug 2012
Issue Title ''"
Editor : Mark Paniccia
Writer : Jason Aaron
Artist : Pasqual Ferry
Inker : Pasqual Ferry
Letter : Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist : Jesus Aburtov
Cover Price : 3.99 (20 cts per page) (4.7 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 85
Dialog Total : 1349
Caption Total : 58
Panels <= 10 Words : 42
Panels per Page : 4.25
Words per Panel : 16.5
Words per Page : 70
Median Words per Page: 53
Story Time Span: Less than 1 day, Primarily 1 Hour or Less
Was read in Trade Paper Back form.
Wow, was this a waste of time & Money. Short on words, short on panel count, and standing alone, appears to have had absolutely no purpose other than to mark time. Poorly.
I don't necessarily believe that every comic needs to add to the hero's story, but they should at least provide the reader with some form of entertainment or at least something to mull over. If the story doesn't move the reader, then some piece of art should. This book provides nothing, zero, zip, nada to think about, smile about, or recommend to anyone.
Story goes, Hulk wakes up under water, Hulk Hits things, Hulk Falls asleep, Hulk Wakes up in Space. Fade to Black.
This is a fairly standard story for 'classic hulk', but this is intelligent hulk and Aaron was using this to good purpose prior to this issue and the two before it. Instead he's pretty much hitting squids & riding whales. I'm thinking this story was phoned in or was being used as filler to develop a Trade.
The art, lettering and coloring are fine. Nothing to add or detract from the story being told. Which is a shame because the story would have benefitted. Immensely.
My ROI on this book is a 0 out of 10. If you haven't read this already, don't waste your time even though it would only take a few minutes. And don't let anyone else read it as a first comic as they would never read a second.
Re: Words, panels and pages in Books
re: chew
good stuff, off the beaten path, well worth the $$
re: counts
not sure if you read the requiem issue of batman & robin #18 that was silent, would love to see your take on roi with an issue so sparse
or the pizza dog issue of Hawkeye #11
just curious you are doing some really unique comic evaluations here
good stuff, off the beaten path, well worth the $$
re: counts
not sure if you read the requiem issue of batman & robin #18 that was silent, would love to see your take on roi with an issue so sparse
or the pizza dog issue of Hawkeye #11
just curious you are doing some really unique comic evaluations here
Comics For Fun and Profit(also available on iTunes and Stitcher)
X-men Legacy #257 (Marvel Comics)
X-men Legacy 257 (Marvel Comics) < Read 22 Nov 2013>
Cover Date : December 2011
Issue Title ''Five Miles South of the Universe Part 4"
Editor : Daniel Ketchum
Writer : Mike Carey
Artist : Khoi Pham
Inker : Tom Palmer
Letter : Cory Petit
Colorist : Brian Reber
Cover Price : 2.99 (15 cts per page) (3.5 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 84
Dialog Total : 1320
Caption Total : 37 (+235 Words on the 'Previously' page)
Panels <= 10 Words : 37
Panels per Page : 4.2
Words per Panel : 16.1
Words per Page : 67.9
Median Words per Page: 72
Story Time Span: Measured in Minutes.
Scenes : 3
Was read in Digital Form in full page mode in the Comixology app on a 9.7" iPad.
As indicated in the title, this was definitively a middle chapter in a story. The first page previously/prologue quickly gets you up to speed with the relative facts for the story and the current scene you're stepping into. Unfortunately, if this was your first peek into this title, you would have no idea about the characters, their motivations, alliances, etc. There are 13 different 'major' characters in play within this story and the dialog let's you know there are 'issues' the characters have with each other but not necessarily why. On the plus side, every character within the book is named at least once. Nice when story telling 101 is adhered to.
This story has roughly the same number of words as the Hulk book I recounted last week however the story is much more a part of the tale being told whereas last weeks book I could have completely skipped and lost nothing. I also believe that Carey/Pham's story telling method helps this short story play longer in this book. Relative to most newer comics, this book featured FEWER panels of the < 10 variety. And most panels contained some dialog moving the story along. Also the short time represented in the book may have helped.
The one thing that annoyed me, a lot, within the story telling was the use of the splash pages, two of them. In both cases they were used to show wide expansive scenes. Neither very dynamic. In other words, they felt like wasted space/opportunity. Either could have been a single panel in a 3 to 5 panel layout and accomplished the same framing. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'd rather see splash shots where the characters are the focus.
Lettering and coloring were both handled professionally as neither hindered the story. I didn't necessarily care for the color palette that was chosen for one of the three scenes, but I attribute that to personal preference.
My ROI on this book is a 5 out of 10. It will only be graded fully when I've completed the five parts. That's assuming I want to finish the entire story. The cliff hangar at the end of the story didn't have that 'oh my god, I have to know what happens' feel. BUT, it did leave enough of impression that if I see the next issue, I might pick it up. IF nothing else is calling to me or if I have some extra change. Guess that's a win for the creative team.
Cover Date : December 2011
Issue Title ''Five Miles South of the Universe Part 4"
Editor : Daniel Ketchum
Writer : Mike Carey
Artist : Khoi Pham
Inker : Tom Palmer
Letter : Cory Petit
Colorist : Brian Reber
Cover Price : 2.99 (15 cts per page) (3.5 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 20
Panels : 84
Dialog Total : 1320
Caption Total : 37 (+235 Words on the 'Previously' page)
Panels <= 10 Words : 37
Panels per Page : 4.2
Words per Panel : 16.1
Words per Page : 67.9
Median Words per Page: 72
Story Time Span: Measured in Minutes.
Scenes : 3
Was read in Digital Form in full page mode in the Comixology app on a 9.7" iPad.
As indicated in the title, this was definitively a middle chapter in a story. The first page previously/prologue quickly gets you up to speed with the relative facts for the story and the current scene you're stepping into. Unfortunately, if this was your first peek into this title, you would have no idea about the characters, their motivations, alliances, etc. There are 13 different 'major' characters in play within this story and the dialog let's you know there are 'issues' the characters have with each other but not necessarily why. On the plus side, every character within the book is named at least once. Nice when story telling 101 is adhered to.
This story has roughly the same number of words as the Hulk book I recounted last week however the story is much more a part of the tale being told whereas last weeks book I could have completely skipped and lost nothing. I also believe that Carey/Pham's story telling method helps this short story play longer in this book. Relative to most newer comics, this book featured FEWER panels of the < 10 variety. And most panels contained some dialog moving the story along. Also the short time represented in the book may have helped.
The one thing that annoyed me, a lot, within the story telling was the use of the splash pages, two of them. In both cases they were used to show wide expansive scenes. Neither very dynamic. In other words, they felt like wasted space/opportunity. Either could have been a single panel in a 3 to 5 panel layout and accomplished the same framing. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'd rather see splash shots where the characters are the focus.
Lettering and coloring were both handled professionally as neither hindered the story. I didn't necessarily care for the color palette that was chosen for one of the three scenes, but I attribute that to personal preference.
My ROI on this book is a 5 out of 10. It will only be graded fully when I've completed the five parts. That's assuming I want to finish the entire story. The cliff hangar at the end of the story didn't have that 'oh my god, I have to know what happens' feel. BUT, it did leave enough of impression that if I see the next issue, I might pick it up. IF nothing else is calling to me or if I have some extra change. Guess that's a win for the creative team.
Wolverine Season One TPB
Wolverine Season One (Marvel Comics) < Read 28 Nov 2013>
Cover Date : 2013
Issue Title ''Season One"
Editor : Jordan D White
Writer : Ben Acker & Ben Blacker
Artist : Salvador Espin / Cam Smith
Inker : -
Letter : Joe Caramagna
Colorist : Jim Charalampidis
Cover Price : 24.99 (25 cts per page) (5.6 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 100
Panels : 443
Dialog Total : 5253
Caption Total : 0
Panels <= 10 Words : 240
Panels per Page : 4.4
Words per Panel : 11.9
Words per Page : 53.5
Median Words per Page: 49
Story Time Span: 3 - 6 Months.
Scenes : 9
Was read in Digital Form in full page mode in the Comixology app on a 9.7" iPad.
Had a little extra time this Holiday Weekend so thought I go through a Original Graphic Novel (OGN) since time permitted. I'd had this in my read me stack for awhile. Upon completing it, I kinda wish I'd left it there and tuned in a rerun of Gilligan's Island. Would have been a better use of twenty minutes.
I've had mixed feelings about the Season One books from Marvel. A couple I thought were pretty good and worth rereading, the majority have been middling , and then some, like this one, have been a waste of time and money. I keep looking for something akin to DC's OGNs and am usually disappointed. Badly.
A quick look at the numbers show this story to have been lite on dialog relative to your typical comic book. Considering this story touched a number of major aspects of wolverine's history; 1) found in wild with no memory, taken in by the Hudson's, Department H training, battle with the Hulk, introduction of Victor Creed, Flashback's centered around the Weapon X program, selection of the initial costume as well as the next variation of the costume, etc etc, the book should have been chalked full of dialog & captions surrounding these events. Instead, these major events are glossed over and we get a lot of fighting action with some grunting and snarling. More than half the panels in the book had less than 10 words in them. I believe the writers felt a reader would know about all these past events with so exposition would be necessary to explain or provide depth. By the end of the book, I was more interested in Heather Hudson and Department H than the book's title character. The part's surrounding Wolverine felt like the writer's had only read those comics specifically associated with those moments and then had taken the content from the reference comics and used the dialog as the basis for their own dialog. Another aspect of the story telling that was clear and wasn't always adhered to was the point of view. The story is narrated in a few places by the Heather Hudson character though this isn't obvious when you first start the story. This probably would have worked better if the feature had been a live event instead of prose.
I wasn't familiar with the writer's for the book so I did a quick look up on them. I only found this book accredited to them as comic book writers. They are more famously known for the 'Thrilling Adventure Hour' which I've listened to and enjoyed from time to time and they have also written for some TV shows. I'm at a loss as to why Marvel would have selected them to write this book for one of their high profile characters.
Let me breath for a second and say, "This is my opinion." These guys write for a living so they must be doing something right. I just don't think this is it.
Salvador Espin's art in this book is primarily along the lines of something I would expect to see in a Marvel Adventure Digest book. Most of the lines are simple, clean, and backgrounds fairly sparse. His facial expressions for Heather Hudson are a strong point. It would probably be appealing to a younger set of eyes, say ages 6 to 8. And if that was the demographic Marvel was shooting for, then the story probably would read well to them also. The lettering and color palette also would work for young children as they are rather clean.
My ROI on this book is a 0 out of 10. Less than 0 if you keep the book on the shelf as the shelf could be used for other material. The dialog in this book would have easily fit into two or three modern 20 page comics. The 'What if' story counted earlier exceed this word count in a single issue. So for less than half the price I could have bought more story. Better Story. I didn't count the reprint on the Wolverine & X-men comic included within the OGN. Wasn't what I was paying for nor do I believe anyone else would pick up the book for that reason. IF you want someone to appreciate comics or the Wolverine character, do not recommend this book to them. Deny it exists. Have your Local Comic Store remove it from their shelves. Do a Fahrenheit 451 on it and any copies you find.
I don't like being a hater but I couldn't find anything good to say about the book other than it's appropriate for very young readers. sigh.
Cover Date : 2013
Issue Title ''Season One"
Editor : Jordan D White
Writer : Ben Acker & Ben Blacker
Artist : Salvador Espin / Cam Smith
Inker : -
Letter : Joe Caramagna
Colorist : Jim Charalampidis
Cover Price : 24.99 (25 cts per page) (5.6 cts per Panel )
Story Pages : 100
Panels : 443
Dialog Total : 5253
Caption Total : 0
Panels <= 10 Words : 240
Panels per Page : 4.4
Words per Panel : 11.9
Words per Page : 53.5
Median Words per Page: 49
Story Time Span: 3 - 6 Months.
Scenes : 9
Was read in Digital Form in full page mode in the Comixology app on a 9.7" iPad.
Had a little extra time this Holiday Weekend so thought I go through a Original Graphic Novel (OGN) since time permitted. I'd had this in my read me stack for awhile. Upon completing it, I kinda wish I'd left it there and tuned in a rerun of Gilligan's Island. Would have been a better use of twenty minutes.
I've had mixed feelings about the Season One books from Marvel. A couple I thought were pretty good and worth rereading, the majority have been middling , and then some, like this one, have been a waste of time and money. I keep looking for something akin to DC's OGNs and am usually disappointed. Badly.
A quick look at the numbers show this story to have been lite on dialog relative to your typical comic book. Considering this story touched a number of major aspects of wolverine's history; 1) found in wild with no memory, taken in by the Hudson's, Department H training, battle with the Hulk, introduction of Victor Creed, Flashback's centered around the Weapon X program, selection of the initial costume as well as the next variation of the costume, etc etc, the book should have been chalked full of dialog & captions surrounding these events. Instead, these major events are glossed over and we get a lot of fighting action with some grunting and snarling. More than half the panels in the book had less than 10 words in them. I believe the writers felt a reader would know about all these past events with so exposition would be necessary to explain or provide depth. By the end of the book, I was more interested in Heather Hudson and Department H than the book's title character. The part's surrounding Wolverine felt like the writer's had only read those comics specifically associated with those moments and then had taken the content from the reference comics and used the dialog as the basis for their own dialog. Another aspect of the story telling that was clear and wasn't always adhered to was the point of view. The story is narrated in a few places by the Heather Hudson character though this isn't obvious when you first start the story. This probably would have worked better if the feature had been a live event instead of prose.
I wasn't familiar with the writer's for the book so I did a quick look up on them. I only found this book accredited to them as comic book writers. They are more famously known for the 'Thrilling Adventure Hour' which I've listened to and enjoyed from time to time and they have also written for some TV shows. I'm at a loss as to why Marvel would have selected them to write this book for one of their high profile characters.
Let me breath for a second and say, "This is my opinion." These guys write for a living so they must be doing something right. I just don't think this is it.
Salvador Espin's art in this book is primarily along the lines of something I would expect to see in a Marvel Adventure Digest book. Most of the lines are simple, clean, and backgrounds fairly sparse. His facial expressions for Heather Hudson are a strong point. It would probably be appealing to a younger set of eyes, say ages 6 to 8. And if that was the demographic Marvel was shooting for, then the story probably would read well to them also. The lettering and color palette also would work for young children as they are rather clean.
My ROI on this book is a 0 out of 10. Less than 0 if you keep the book on the shelf as the shelf could be used for other material. The dialog in this book would have easily fit into two or three modern 20 page comics. The 'What if' story counted earlier exceed this word count in a single issue. So for less than half the price I could have bought more story. Better Story. I didn't count the reprint on the Wolverine & X-men comic included within the OGN. Wasn't what I was paying for nor do I believe anyone else would pick up the book for that reason. IF you want someone to appreciate comics or the Wolverine character, do not recommend this book to them. Deny it exists. Have your Local Comic Store remove it from their shelves. Do a Fahrenheit 451 on it and any copies you find.
I don't like being a hater but I couldn't find anything good to say about the book other than it's appropriate for very young readers. sigh.