This was cheap, and has a pretty cool looking cover which is the entire reason I bought it. I had no knowledge of this title or any of the characters.
Anyhoo...
It transpires that I'm so out of touch with the comics world that i didn't know that Valiant is a third comics empire, competing with the big two (Marvel and DC) with it's own set of ongoing series and heroes.
They seem to have a more fantasy based mythos, as opposed to the more sci-fi trappings of most superhero faire. This title is a big crossover event in the Valiant universe, pulling together several of their main characters into one story, an Avengers Assemble type of thing. Even the aliens in the opening pages look somewhat like the Kree.
This would all probably excite me much more if I was a follower of the comics in question. However, as a casual reader encountering this universe for the first time, I feel some of the finer points of the story were probably lost on me.
The story follows a threat to the existence of life on planet earth when a creature from another world infects the Geomancer - a young girl linked inextricably to life itself. the creature has made a mistake because the girl is protected by an eternal champion who makes it his mission to save her by any means necessary. The writing does a fair job in letting us know who each of these characters is. At no point did I find myself wondering what was going on.
It's all beautifully illustrated and inked. Visually this is a remarkable piece of work. The story is possibly less impressive. We're in very familiar territory here. I know there are very few original stories out there, but at least try to dress your plot in unfamiliar clothes.
It was entertaining. It killed 45 minutes yesterday. Kudos to the art team for a great job. Otherwise it's a bit same old, same old. It's not entirely cliched, but I can't award it anything for originality either.
No comments:
Post a Comment