(NOTE: This review was originally intended to go up on Adventures in Poor Taste, but due to a mix up and someone already calling dibs on reviewing the book, this review wasn't posted there. It is here instead to be enjoyed.)
(DOUBLE NOTE: Apparently, there was a big mishap and problem with the digital copy of the ODY-C when it was sent out. Pages were missing or out of order apparently. As such, this review you are reading is reflective of the initial release of the first issue. Maybe my copy had no problems (It was sent out by Image themselves) and thus is the real copy of the first issue had all of the pages in it and not mixed up. I don't know and won't find out unless I get a new copy somewhere down the line.)
Oh boy, we got ourselves a big here today folks! It’s a brand new number one from Image by
oddball/popular writer, Matt Fraction.
For some, this is a comic to get excited about. The man has written things like Sex Criminals
and Satellite Sam. For me, this is a
comic I’m walking in completely blind into and seeing what happens. Is it good?
ODY-C #1 (Image Comics)
I’m not going to even
bother explaining the story or giving a small plot synopsis about what
happened. It’s completely and utterly
pointless. There are these gods and they
are possibly screwing around with the fates of these women and there are wars
going on or something. For the life of
me, I couldn’t tell you or explain to you a single thing about what just
happened in this comic. This has to be
one of most baffling, poorly constructed, trippy, and yet flat out boring
comics I have read in a long time.
(If I find the in-story narrator, I’m going to yell at
him to shut up.)
Seriously, I couldn’t tell
you exactly what is going on in this story outside of three women having dealt
with a war and apparently some powerful figures with Greek God names are up to
something. Reading the comic twice, it’s
hard to really gather the exact details or explanation for what is exactly
going on. The narrative feels like it is
going for a very flowery, pompous, pretentious, and purple prose like
style. It wants to be epic and
intellectual, but it comes across as a pain and frustrating experience to read. Nothing ever sounds compelling or interesting
and the writing/dialogue/narration becomes rather dull to read, like one of
those old books/poems you were forced to read in English class but with
substance… which made some bit of sense after doing the research and seeing
that this was an adaption Odyssey sort of.
Never read it, but from just reading this comic, it sure doesn’t
encourage me to want to read the original.
If I had to compare to
this comic to another story I have read, the closest I could compare it to was
Drumhellar is some sense. It’s a book
that refuses to hold your hand. It drops
you into the middle of a world/universe with no context or backstory to it
while also knowing nothing about the characters. There’s no buildup, little to no
characterization (if there is, it is hidden somewhere underneath all of the
writing and doesn’t do a good job of making anyone particularly interesting),
you often don’t know who is talking, and no explanation for just about anything. You don’t know anything about these cultures,
you barely get some hints at the personalities and relationships between
people, the technology is weird and sometimes doesn’t make sense in how it
works, and more. It makes things and
people hard to care about, since you can never form attachments or understand
what exactly is going on. A complex and
unique narrative is one thing, but having absolutely nothing to latch on or get
invested in does not remotely help either.
(….I’m not sure what the hell I’m looking at.)
Then there is the writing
on the book and it is just as bad as the story.
Like stated, there’s really nothing much to the characters. You barely learn anything about them, half
the time you can’t tell who the narration is referring to with who just spoke
or thought, and none of the relationships between any of the characters have
any sort of strength to them since you don’t know enough about them or how much
anyone really means to each other. The
dialogue and narration most of the time goes for that very flowery and purple
prose like nature like stated, but sometimes mixes in a bit more normal, modern
day lingo. When that happens, it doesn’t
fit and sounds awkward as hell. You
can’t go from a line like “Her majesty ruined, her wealth no more, smolders, a
pyre in space” to “F**k the war.” It’s
out of place.
The pacing and the
storytelling are nightmarish, never letting the audience have a moment to fully
take in what just happened or comprehend the scale of something. It goes too fast, leaving the audience
confused in its wake. The transitions
between scenes are just as bad, just randomly cutting to one scene and then to
the next out of the blue. It makes the
comic feel very disjointed and even more difficult to read. There’s no emotion, human element, or similar
to make you feel something on a different level or get invested emotionally;
everything here just feels hollow and shallow.
Then there is the ending of the book, which is completely abrupt and
just stops. No resolution, no big moment
has happened, nothing shocking… it just ends.
There’s just nothing here to recommend with the writing or the story.
So how about the
artwork? Going back to that Drumhellar
comparison, I feel the same way about the artwork here as I did there. It’s honestly not for me, coming across as
either A) Ugly looking with the poor body structures and mediocre facial
expressions, B) has gaudy looking colors, and C) the bizarre and trippy layouts
contribute to how poor the book reads.
However, it is a very unique and remember style to it that I definitely
could see people liking. It does have
some interesting imagery and the sci-fi aspect is different than what I usually
see. But just as easily as I can see
someone liking this still, I can see others disliking it just as much for
similar reasons. Honestly, the artwork
may make this more or less the deal breaker for whether or not you’ll want to
read this to begin with (you may want to flip through it at the comic shop).
(I’m sure this would make total sense to me if I was
high.)
Is It Good?
ODY-C #1 is a bad start to this new series. The story and characters are just not
compelling, even if you could understand exactly what was happening. Speaking of which, the narrative and storytelling
are horrendous and make reading the comic a frustrating and surprisingly boring
experience with how dry and lifeless it feels.
The artwork is interesting depending on who you are, but I could never
recommend this comic in good faith to anyone.
Even if you are die-hard fan of Matt Fraction, definitely do not buy
this unless you read it or flip through it at the store first.
Final Score: 2.0
Pros:
+ Depending on who you are, you may like the artwork.
Cons:
+ The story is near incomprehensible, with nothing to
latch onto or make you want to reread it again.
+ The writing and dialogue/narration are terrible and
boring.
+ A challenging narrative for all the wrong reasons.
