Vibe #6 – Review

By: Sterling Gates (story), Pete Woods (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Brad Anderson (colors)

The Story: What are bros for if not to break each other out of interdimensional prison?

The Review: I don’t like to attribute a title’s problems to editorial interference or creative shake-ups; it sounds too much like an easy excuse for poor writing to me.  Occasionally, though, the evidence of defects coming from higher up than the writer or artist is too strong to ignore.  To be frank, though, I don’t see this as a complete justification for a weak story.  With serial fiction especially, writing is as much craft as art, and part of the craft is flexibility.

Gates definitely had obstacles going against him from the moment he started on Vibe.  First of all, it’s a major red flag that both the title’s original writers checked out within two—seriously, two?—issues.  Second of all, and meaning no disrespect to the Vibe fans out there (both of you), but it’s Vibe.  So Gates not only had to suddenly and unexpectedly step up to the plate with a half-formed story barely started, he had to work with a low-rent character no one cared much to see anyway and try to complete his transformation into a top-notch property.  Blergh.