The Press Packet-
It's a new comic in the 'Fell' format (pioneered by Warren Ellis), written by Matt Fraction and drawn with horrifying clarity & glamour by Gabriel Bل (an intimidatingly talented Brazilian artist). General info is here.
My HO-
I grabbed the book out of existential there's-nothing-worth-reading comic store angst and wandered off to sulk in the park. Glossing through, I was surprised to find nods to Michael Moorcock and Jerry Cornelius on the inside back page. The story itself is, to be archaic, a gas. One reference after another, dense as all hell (esp. for being only 16 pps.), and genuinely entertaining. Fraction manages a solid yet continually shifting narrative, and Gabriel overclocks the self-aware action-film plot with a hundred points of interest per panel.
It's not a review unless you compare apples with other apples, so imagine this: Imagine David Fincher post-Fight Club recognizing his own innate brilliance and refusing to slouch back into mediocrity. Imagine David Fincher determined to put Ian Fleming in his shadow, churning out postmodern spy thrillers. Imagine David Fincher being so ashamed of his hideous past as a mainstream genre hack that he changed his name to Matt Fraction and started doing comics. At ONE ISSUE, this book is worth reading & re-reading until the binding rots.
I'm not sure how long it'll be around, given the pro-tights nature of American comics readership, but I will follow it with fervor for as long as the industry allows.
It's a new comic in the 'Fell' format (pioneered by Warren Ellis), written by Matt Fraction and drawn with horrifying clarity & glamour by Gabriel Bل (an intimidatingly talented Brazilian artist). General info is here.
My HO-
I grabbed the book out of existential there's-nothing-worth-reading comic store angst and wandered off to sulk in the park. Glossing through, I was surprised to find nods to Michael Moorcock and Jerry Cornelius on the inside back page. The story itself is, to be archaic, a gas. One reference after another, dense as all hell (esp. for being only 16 pps.), and genuinely entertaining. Fraction manages a solid yet continually shifting narrative, and Gabriel overclocks the self-aware action-film plot with a hundred points of interest per panel.
It's not a review unless you compare apples with other apples, so imagine this: Imagine David Fincher post-Fight Club recognizing his own innate brilliance and refusing to slouch back into mediocrity. Imagine David Fincher determined to put Ian Fleming in his shadow, churning out postmodern spy thrillers. Imagine David Fincher being so ashamed of his hideous past as a mainstream genre hack that he changed his name to Matt Fraction and started doing comics. At ONE ISSUE, this book is worth reading & re-reading until the binding rots.
I'm not sure how long it'll be around, given the pro-tights nature of American comics readership, but I will follow it with fervor for as long as the industry allows.
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