Comic Quickies: Wrapping Things Up

The Massive #1: When this series was announced, I got pretty excited.  The concept seemed cool, and on top of that The Massive provided me with a chance to give Brian Wood another shot.

Basically, what's going on here is that all of a sudden, the weather on Planet Earth has gotten really crazy and unpredictable.  As a result, Economies have toppled, coastal cities and towns have been laid to waste thanks to tsunamis, and the human population has been decimated.  During such shitty times, I guess the best place to be is on board a sturdy sea-faring vessel like the folks of the Direct-Action Conservationist ship,  Kapital.

We meet these folks, all of whom are members of an environmentalist group who are trying to figure why Mother Earth is so pissed at her inhabitants, as they are puttering about near Kamchatka. They're attempting to make contact with their sister ship, the Massive, but not having any luck.  Before too long, they are attacked by Pirates, which provides a little bit of action, while Wood peppers in back-story.  The problem is that neither piece is all that interesting and I couldn't bring myself to care a lick about what was going on in this opening issue.

The art, handled Kristian Donaldson, is solid, but she drove me nuts with her character designs.  Many of the key crew members on board the Kapital, are older than me, (their year of birth is given right in the panel), however, they all look like they are about 19-24 years old.  Even the captain, a guy who is 46 years old, looks super young.  On top of that, they all look and dress like hipsters, which is pretty fucking stupid given the fact that they live on a ship currently hanging around the Arctic.

The issue was pretty boring to begin with, but then it went and aggravated me with stupid looking characters who look nothing like their age.  I don't need a comic to look "cool" and "hip" to make me read it,  suffice it to say that I was not impressed.  I removed this title from my pull box immediately after finishing the issue.

Transmetropolitan Volume 10: So I finished up the Transmetropolitan series.  Yeah, it was great.  The last few trades really flew by and delivered some incredibly entertaining reading material.  Not only that, but the series ended quite well.  I was impressed.  It's not too often that folks are able to wrap up long series and wrap 'em up well, but Warren Ellis was able to do just that.

Robertson's art was phenomenal throughout. I am still a little stunned that he did the art for every single issue in the series.  That is impressive.  Usually artists need a break so they can stay caught up and keep the issues coming out at a monthly rate, but Robertson was there from issue one on through.  Given how much detail he adds to every panel makes this all the more impressive.  To top it all off, there is never a noticeable moment where the art seems rushed or half-assed.  This is simply a very talented artist delivering some top-shelf art issue after issue.

If you haven't had the chance to read Transmetropolitan yet, I strongly urge you to get your hands on the first trade and enjoy.  This is a landmark series in the world of comics and features both a writer and an artist working at the top of their games.  This is the perfect series for Ellis because the story provides a great catch-all for all his wonderful, mad-cap, zany, and genius ideas...and if anyone is gonna be able to draw that shit, it is Robertson.  Really great stuff.