Art by: Yvel Guichet
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: October 9, 2013
I Guess the Name ExtremeFred was Taken
It's no secret, Stormwatch has been a mess. It doesn't sell, gets bad reviews and is on it's third creative team. Why this book isn't canceled is beyond me, but at least Jim Starlin and Yvel Guichet are giving it the old college try.
Stormwatch #24 starts with a glimpse at Apollo's origin. It was a very brief glimpse into the relationship of Apollo and Midnighter, but was subtle and effective. Things go off the rails a bit after this.
The Engineer has been taken over by a Artificial Intelligence known as A.I. How original. A.I. then tells the Stormwatch team about Extrememax. She talks, and talks and talks. Then she talks some more. She tells them his history, his enemy and his motives. She talks some more and then he shows up ready to destroy Earth. She tells them they have to join up with Extremax to fight his enemy The Kollective.
As you can tell, this comic breaks the rule of show don't tell. In fact, it makes it's own rule...tell, tell, tell, don't show, tell, tell, show a little, tell. It's a shame too, because Yvel Guichet's art is quite good throughout (except a horrible Justice League and Green Lantern page that reminds me of a 6th graders attempt at sprucing up his trapper keeper). The story isn't bad, it's just crammed down your throat.
Stormwatch #24 wants to be good, but the story is just information being forced on the reader. The actual setup is ok, but the execution is sloppy. I really want to like Stormwatch, but this issue isn't helping matters.
4.0/10
yeah pretty much agree here. Stupid names aside, I don't think the core idea is a bad one, if you break it down to it's essence it's something you could conceivably picture happening in The Authority or something. But holy shit, the narration. O.o just blah blah blah, rather than just getting on with it. Still, at least the characters are (more or less) fixed for whatever they may appear in next, once this is cancelled.
ReplyDeleteI am shocked it wasn't canceled already. No one reads it and it is a mess. Like you said, the characters are no good enough to be in other books. It's a shame though.
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