On my way home from my dad's, I managed to find two of the three comics from last week I wanted. It'll probably be early next week before I get the other one (plus the other two books from the last month I want), so we're probably looking at mid-January for the Year in Review posts.
Metamorpho fights Mister 3, who can switch between 3 states of matter, including replicating the Orb of Ra, which is bad news for Metamorpho and the Element Girl, who shows up to help out. I've never understood why the Orb, which gave them their powers, also cancels those same powers. I suspect Bob Haney didn't have an answer to that question either.
Mr. 3's defeated, but he's working for some group with unknown goals that involve Metamorpho, so that's the problem the cast will have to face. And it's somehow related to Prince Ra-Man defeating some guy named Helio in a world with two suns. Well, it had two suns until the fight ended, then one of them blew up. I'm assuming a piece of it landed on Earth as the Orb of Ra.
Ewing and Lieber are definitely trying to mirror the style of the original, '60s Metamorpho series. The opening splash page has the little cast of character scroll down the side, Metamorpho says things like, "Maybe 'cause he's a gas, gas, gas," and Mister 3 calls him "Fab Freak." Java's constantly, openly pining for both Sapphire's love and Metamorpho's death.
Lieber's art doesn't have the fluidity of Ramona Fradon's, Metamorpho certainly doesn't get as creative with his transformations, although Lieber does work the element's symbol into the transformation a couple of times. One of the graphite skates Rex creates being in the shape of "Gr", for example. He does make the effects of the Orb more horrible-looking however, as Metamorpho's outer covering melts away until you can see his skull underneath. Feels a little at odds with the "groovy" aesthetic Ewing's going for, but maybe they're doing '60s style adventures through a body horror lens.
This issue is basically establishing setting. It's the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma in 1935, which means it's also the Great Depression. Farmers are pulling up stakes and heading for California, leaving behind places where things won't grow and there's no water to be found. There's a sheriff, who likes to read, and also likes to drink moonshine. The moonshine's made by a particular family of assholes, who like to pick on a WWI vet with PTSD. There's a photographer from Chicago in town, looking for anything that might work as a newspaper feature. There is, of course, one guy who owns most of the town and expects to get everything he wants.
The child of one of the departing families found a part of a human jawbone and gave it to the sheriff, but the sheriff's not made any move towards figuring that out yet. The sheriff is reading a book on Irish fairy tales by Yeats. The photographer keeps a rifle in her car. The local big shot isn't happy about these farmers leaving when they still owe him mortgages damn it. I assume any or all of that will become relevant at some point, but how and when, no clue.
Jones keeps the book in washed out color. Really highlights the desolate nature of the place, makes the ribs on the farmer's mule stick out. Without much color - there's a little, in a couple of panels - the eye isn't necessarily pulled anywhere. So you just kind of drift over the panel, taking in the faces of these people. The few smiles - mostly the photographer - the scowls, the desperation. Although it mostly made me notice the extent of the sheriff's stubble varies widely from one panel to the next. From a beard to appearing almost clean-shaven. We'll see if Jones adds more color as things accelerate, drawing attention to certain things (or maybe away from other things.)
No comments:
Post a Comment