You know what the new Comics Journal was missing? Some good old pamphlet-format superhero comics talk. What else could I do but provide some? I reviewed the first issue of the new Frazer Irving showcase comic Xombi over there, finding it rather a distressing thing. The kind of comic you want to extend your empathy to because it's obviously going so far beyond the minimum to please you, but never actually gets there on the merits of what it is. Tough stuff. There's also a bunch of Irving art-analysis in there too, so go check it out! Starts like this:
First and foremost, Xombi #1 is an object lesson in how modern mainstream comics can be good in almost every way, and still come out unsatisfying. There isn’t much wrong with the book on paper. It’s got a highly talented artist in Frazer Irving, and an underrated, rock-solid writer in John Rozum. It stars a character most readers are more or less unfamiliar with, which means its creators are working from the ground up rather than merely building new scaffolds around something. And it’s a relaunch of a property that’s never had a definitive, unmatchable run of issues but hasn’t yet been beaten bloody with too many tries for one — prime real estate in superhero comics. Read more
3 comments:
Interesting review. Despite your reservations regarding the artwork and the quirky narrative, I'm going to give Xombi a go, it looks to have a nice John Smith weirdness about it.
On the whole computer graphics issue, I can see what you mean re. Irving's earlier work being more - how to put it - textured? On the other hand, I find McCarthy's variant cover pretty awful - not the line work itself (I love McCarthy's draftmanship) but the gaudy, neonesque effects are kinda clunky. Something like Rogan Gosh (apologies, most of my comic book referents are 20 years out of date) does the psychedelic thing much better, methinks.
I looked up Paper Rad - neat stuff - but the difference for me is that the Paper Rad pieces look clean and polished, "sophisticated" for want of a better term, whereas McCarthy's cover has something Microsoft Paintbox about it, clipart stars and all. His colour work has always had a wonderful zaniness to it, like graffiti on a teenager's pencil case, but for me it's better without the digital spangles.
Oh yeah, for sure -- it's jarring to say the least. Divisive stuff, and he's already such a divisive artist...
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