Ian Ascher
05-28-2007, 07:35 AM
Anyone else ever read this? I picked up the Hardcover by Steven Grant and Gil Kane at a used bookstore over the weekend.
This was a 4 issue mini by Malibu/Bravura back in the 90's. Long story short, the last issues was never published and is in print for the first and only time in this book.
The story itself was pretty bad. Reading the foreward and afterward by Steven Grant, he talks about how he wanted to do realistic superheroes in a world that didn't have any, mentions Dark Knight and Watchmen several times and hints at the "grim & gritty" stuff that was being published around that time. He says he did it specifically for Gil, who didn't like superheroes either, even though that's what he was famous for.
Gil's art through the book is great. Gil is considered one of the master's by a lot of industry peers and while Im not a huge fan of his work I can still see why. Sadly, the layouts are so-so and the dialogue through the first issue is confusing. There's no concept of time through the four issues as we flash back and forth without written warning or change in style to the art and events seem to happen in a matter of an hour... or is it a day... there's no way to be sure. He also says we'll never guess how the story ends but to me, the ending was pretty mundane and a-typical if you've read comics long enough.
Steven Grant has done a lot of work for a lot of companies but I think he let his desire to work with and please a boy hood idol get in the way of telling an actual story. Maybe if they had been able to do the other two arcs (eight issues) they had planned it would have read different but on its own, it doesn't stand up.
This was a 4 issue mini by Malibu/Bravura back in the 90's. Long story short, the last issues was never published and is in print for the first and only time in this book.
The story itself was pretty bad. Reading the foreward and afterward by Steven Grant, he talks about how he wanted to do realistic superheroes in a world that didn't have any, mentions Dark Knight and Watchmen several times and hints at the "grim & gritty" stuff that was being published around that time. He says he did it specifically for Gil, who didn't like superheroes either, even though that's what he was famous for.
Gil's art through the book is great. Gil is considered one of the master's by a lot of industry peers and while Im not a huge fan of his work I can still see why. Sadly, the layouts are so-so and the dialogue through the first issue is confusing. There's no concept of time through the four issues as we flash back and forth without written warning or change in style to the art and events seem to happen in a matter of an hour... or is it a day... there's no way to be sure. He also says we'll never guess how the story ends but to me, the ending was pretty mundane and a-typical if you've read comics long enough.
Steven Grant has done a lot of work for a lot of companies but I think he let his desire to work with and please a boy hood idol get in the way of telling an actual story. Maybe if they had been able to do the other two arcs (eight issues) they had planned it would have read different but on its own, it doesn't stand up.