Gears of War #5 – Review

By Joshua Ortega (Writer), Liam Sharp (Artist), and Jonny Rench (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Being a fan of the Xbox 360 series, the Gears of War comics are something of a guilty pleasure for me. The artwork in them effectively captures the gritty violence of the game’s world and action, while the tough-guy dialogue works well enough to keep the books entertaining enough to read. I wish the Gears series had a bit more story and depth, but then again I had a fairly solid idea of what I was getting into when I picked up the first issue.

The Story: Marcus, Jace, Dom, and Barrick find themselves trapped underneath the rubble of the ruined city of Montevado. With the area unstable and crawling with creatures, the separated COGs must find a way out of the dangerous mess. The situation offers up the opportunity for the reader to learn a little more about Jace as well.

What’s Good: To be honest, there isn’t much about Gears #5 that is particularly memorable. The action comes across well and the situation the COGs find themselves in by the end of the issue is appropriately hopeless (and potentially exciting), but beyond that there just isn’t a whole lot worth mentioning. And that’s something of a shame because the creative team puts in some pretty decent work…

What’s Not So Good: The pretty decent work ultimately fails to amount to much. I understand that for the most part, Gears of War is all about mindless action. That said, it wouldn’t hurt to actually advance the storyline once in a while. I mean, I love bloody action as much as the next guy, but it gets tiresome when it seems as though that’s all that is holding the series together. There has to be some driving force moving things along. Unfortunately, I have pretty much stopped caring what that force is at this point. As a result, I just found the penultimate chapter of the first Gears arc to be quite boring.

Conclusion: While I will be sticking around to see how the “Hollow” story concludes thanks to the fairly strong finish of chapter five, I can’t help but be disappointed with things as a whole. The creative team definitely gets the appeal of Gears and successfully translates it to the page, but the whole thing just feels empty without a compelling story. Maybe things will turn around next month, but I will be sure to keep my expectations in check.

Grade:  C-

-Kyle Posluszny

Gears of War #3 – Review

By Joshua Ortega (Writer), Liam Sharp (Art), and Johnny Rench & Carrie Strachan (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Gears of War has been a surprisingly entertaining series so far, even though it’s really a “for fans only” type of thing. While it isn’t breaking any new ground and hasn’t yet done anything essential for the overall Gears storyline, the comic definitely succeeds in translating the gritty violence and machismo of the game to the page. The biggest flaw is the fact that nothing of consequence has happened so far. Furthermore, there doesn’t really seem to be much in the way of plot development. Sure the mindless action has been pretty fun, but it runs the risk of becoming tiresome. Maybe Gears of War #3 will prove to be something of a game-changer and give the series the direction that it has been sorely lacking.

The Story: Jace barely manages to land the plummeting helicopter, and the group of soldiers find themselves a long way from home. During the long walk from the wreckage, Marcus, Dom, and company come across an outpost full of “stranded” people that were unable to reach Jacinto, left struggling to survive in the aftermath of Emergence Day. With the stranded needing protection and the soldiers needing a form of transportation, the two groups come to a mutual agreement. Also, lots of Locusts meet a violent end throughout the issue…as expected.

What’s Good: That Joshua Ortega finally manages to work in some plot development in between all the action and violence. It does wonders for a series that has been incredibly shallow for two issues. With the group now in charge of protecting someone other than themselves, maybe Ortega can actually begin to work in the character depth necessary to put together a story that provides more than just a mindless action fix.

What’s Not So Good: That it is still totally up in the air whether or not the Gears of War comic series will actually connect to the game in any meaningful way. The initial previews said that the series would lead into the plot for Gears 2, but I don’t see any signs of that happening yet. That might wind up being the biggest factor surrounding whether or not I stick with the title to the end.

Conclusion: A step up for the series, Gears of War #3 provides what the comic adaptation has so desperately needed. On the other hand, I am still not sure whether or not early promises are being kept. At least the action delivers and it all looks pretty nice.

Grade:  C+

-Kyle Posluszny

Gears of War #1 – Review

By Joshua Ortega (Writer), Liam Sharp (Artist), and Johnny Rench (Colorist)

The Story: Taking place roughly two months after the end of the first Gears of War game, hero Marcus Fenix and a new recruit, Jace, are out on patrol searching for any survivors of a brutal Locust attack. They find a few, one a familiar face, and kill quite a few Locusts along the way.

What’s Good: How well the creative team nails the feel of the Xbox 360 game. The art, dialogue, and story all do a wonderful job of using the atmosphere and characters to great effect. If you’re looking for a story about tough guys killing monsters using excessive violence, you can’t do much better than this. As a fan of the game, I couldn’t be more satisfied.

What’s Not So Good: As you probably guessed, this isn’t exactly the deepest comic on the stands. The characters are your generic military tough guys, the violence may be too much for some to handle, and the comic never really rises above its videogame roots. Also, the storyline is written assuming that you have played the game at some point, so those unfamiliar with Gears may find themselves wondering about certain references.

On the technical side, the dark coloring muddies up and confuses a scene or two, but this is only a slight annoyance in an otherwise good looking book.

Conclusion: Action junkies and Gears fans should really take the time to check out this comic. It faithfully translates everything that made the game such a success into an enjoyable, visually impressive book. A mindless, yet pleasant surprise in every way.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny