Damaged #1 – Review

by David Lapham (writer), Leonardo Manco (art), Kinsun Loh, Jerry Choo, & Sansan Saw (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story:  Old-timer police captain Frank Lincoln, on his way out, realizes that his little brother Henry has returned, determined to bathe the streets in criminal blood.

What’s Good:  There are certain things in storytelling, particularly genre storytelling, that simply works time in and time out.  This is particularly the case with crime comics, and Damaged certainly hangs tight on numerous tropes.  For instance, we get the haggard, world-weary detective and we match him up with the young, bright-eyed newbie.  We’ve also got the gritty narration by said old-timer and, naturally, the Mayor and the higher ups in the police force are jerks.  It’s all sort of familiar, which naturally limits how good this comic can be.  However, it also limits just how bad it can be as well.  Reading Damaged at times feels like putting on an old, favourite shoe.  It’s  unremarkable, but it’s also comfortable.  If you like crime comics at all, you won’t have any strong dislike for Damaged.

Certainly, David Lapham does do some things quite well.  The narration by Frank Lincoln, politically unpopular police captain, is well executed and full of exactly the sort of downcast mood and atmosphere you’d hope for in a comic like this.  Indeed, Frank’s voice is strong enough that the narrated pages end up being some of the book’s strongest.  The tableside political banter between the mayor, the police department’s higher-ups, and the new recruit is also well done and feels natural and, again, comfortable.

Viking #2 – Review

by Ivan Brandon (writer), Nic Klein (art, letters, design), and Kristyn Ferretti (letters & design)

The Story: Finn and Egil face the consequences of their actions.

What’s Good: From its basic design to the artwork itself, this book is one of the most gorgeous comics on store shelves today.  The fact that this book is $2.99 is unbelievable.

The art is a perfect blend of painting, modern indie comic, and cartoonish; stylized and beautiful, it’s a sight to behold.  I love Klein’s mastery of lighting in the book; it’s clear that he’s painting a world without electricity, as when it’s night, one gets a real sense of the firelight that is relied upon as everything takes on a dark orange hue.  I also reallyenjoyed Klein’s use of color to depict mood, with everything going a light red in moments of tension or violence. With creative panel layouts and large, impressive splashes, this book does the painted form proud.

There is however a story at work here, as Brandon continues to establish the voices of his characters.  This month, we really get a sense of the “crime fiction” element of the tale.  King Bram sounds like a mob boss and Brandon’s depiction of the Viking lifestyle sounds increasingly like that of the gangster lifestyle taken up by immigrants in the early twentieth century.  The wild and naive ambitions of the young, the difficulty of leaving the life behind, and the Grandfather’s wish that his grandsons do not enter the life of crime carved out by their father all make this comic sound a hell of a lot like a gangster movie.  Brandon is clearly making his generic standing clear this month, and the comic is all the more intriguing for it.  Meanwhile, for the second month in a row, Brandon ends his book with a final scene that packs an emotional wallop.

What’s Not-So-Good: This is a quick read.  Gorgeous painted artwork and single page splashes unfortunately mean several pages with little dialogue.  This also unfortunately means that at the end of issue 2, we still don’t have a real idea of what the plot of the series is.  I just didn’t quite feel that enough happened in the span of these 22 pages.  At times I even felt like the comic became more of an artbook than a comic, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.  It felt as though the comic needed a few more pages to get more done or to flesh more out.  I like what we got but I feel that we needed more of it.  This comic just doesn’t seem to have established a direction for itself yet.

This normally wouldn’t be so annoying really, but the fact that Viking is a bi-monthly title makes it somewhat crippling.  Having waited two months to get an issue that still doesn’t see a major thrust is somewhat frustrating. So little happened this issue and we still will have to wait until the end of August for #3.

Conclusion: A solid book that nonetheless feels a little light.

Grade: C+

-Alex Evans

Back to Brooklyn #5 – Review

by Garth Ennis & Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Mihailo Vukelic (art), and Simon Bowland (letters)

The Story: The conclusion of this limited series sees Bob Saetta finally having his showdown with brother “Paul the Wall,” but not before he learns a little secret about his wife Penny.

The Good: As anyone who’s ever opened an issue of Back to Brooklyn can tell you, the first thing you’ll notice here is the artwork. Vukelic has an incredibly unique, realistic, and gritty style that has all the makings of a future star. His work on Back to Brooklyn has been consistently impressive and often the best thing about the comic. In this issue, Vukelic really shines, as he once again proves that despite his polished style, he knows his brutality.

And boy, oh boy is this comic brutal. Lasting around a third of the issue, Bob’s fight with Paul is a nasty, bloody contest that manages to satisfy, even in the face of the series-long build-up to it. This is a really ugly seven pages and the amount of punishment that both men endure borders upon outrageous. It’s gruesome to the point of being hard to read, but if you’re a gore-hound, it’s also about as glorious as violence can get. Vukelic’s hyper-realistic style only makes all the more visceral, impactful, and cringe-worthy.

What’s Not-So-Good: Unfortunately, Ennis decided that having the last issue be built around the final fight just wouldn’t be good enough. Thus, the heart of the issue is Penny’s secret. Now, the good part of this is that it really is a stunner. However, as these things often go, reality quickly sets in as I realized that it just didn’t make much sense. Penny spends some time explaining her rationale, but still, it just doesn’t work, perhaps because we’ve never gotten a chance to really know her. At best, the explanation is “well, she’s crazy;”  which had me think how it was just lazy. The end result had me resenting the twist, as it was clearly done for twist’s sake alone. Due to so much of the issue resting on this reveal, the whole comic suffers for it.

I’ve also got to say that Ennis really has some trouble writing children.  I understand what Ennis is after, but Michael is really badly written. I can’t put my finger on what it was exactly, but his words didn’t seem quite right and it all ended up feeling a bit contrived. I honestly found him nothing but irritating. I just didn’t feel that a lot of thought was put into writing him.

Conclusion: A relatively solid conclusion  to a solid series that suffers a bit for trying to be too much. The simple concluding battle we were all expecting was fantastic.  However, the big twist we were expecting wasn’t so great.  While not bad and ultimately satisfying, it’s still a bit of a mixed bag as a result.

Grade: C+

-Alex Evans