Since he's a relatively local artist I've seen him every year at Free Comic Book Day for as long as I knew it existed. He also used to come to the local library to talk about comicbooks during the summer reading program.
So now that I've gotten my fanboyism out of the way, I have to talk about the comic.
In his own words, Stephen Butler said that it's getting back to the good old days of his youth, the comics he grew up with. And I have to say, for as much incoherent plotless and gutless garbage as the Silver and Golden Ages put out, this is inspired by the best of it.
While the characters might be from the golden age of comics, this has got an early silver-age, to late bronze age vibe to it. And personally, I like that the best out of all of them. Nowadays comics have gotten so complicated that I don't even bother reading them. Complicated plotlines and references that go back to decades ago when the comics were still reigned in by the scourge of the industry that was the Comics Code Authority.
Every issue page and issue so far is on the Gallant Comics website (Which can be found here), and while that is nice, the physical version was printed in a way that pops right off the page.
I'm not saying the digital version is inferior, I'm just saying that the way certain lines catch the light makes it (The art, the text, everything) pop. The comic has a style to it that combines the best of old and new into something that is entertaining to read and to look at.
I could spend hours poring over the intricacies of every panel. And on to the plot. I'm distinctly reminded of some of the Wolverine comics I read several years ago detailing the Weapon X project. It's got a mysterious overarching plot that is gradually revealed as you move forward, or so I hope. What I know so far is that it's really entertaining, and while it might not be for everybody (Because nothing is except for air, water and food).
There are several similarities in the plot to other series, but it's not copied and pasted, because it's both broken up by flashbacks that expand on what I presume to be a massive, overarching plot and encounters with other characters. I don't want to spoil anything for you, I just think you should check it out for yourself. It's kind of hard to describe what it is, but suffice it to say that it's one of the best comics I've read in my life, and definitely the best comic I've read in years. It both plays straight certain super-hero tropes and subverts them. I'd like to see a fully colored version with the word balloons taken out, just to see how it works without dialogue.
All in all, I enjoyed it. It's definitely worth the time to read it, and I give it a 9.9* rating. I've actually been putting this off since FCBD 2014 for a while so I could take the time to finish the series thus far.
Now, I'm gonna get to the in-depth review and plot analysis, so ****SPOILERS INBOUND!**** If you haven't read it all yet, click HERE. Don't worry, I'll still be here when you come back.
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You read it yet? Good. If you haven't then don't blame me for spoiling it for you.
Now, while it's a breath of fresh air for the comics industry, the plot so far seems to be the standard modern-day/near future/far future sci-fi plot from the Alien movies, the Resident Evil series, and pretty much every zombie/monster/robots/computers take over the world series that exists these days. While I do like the plot of mad scientists who want power trying to take over the world, I have to point out that the plot might seem dated in the future depending on how many more things use that plot. Now, since it does add its own touches to the standard hive-mind sci-fi plot it avoids the potential pitfalls of being cliched. So far the comic has introduced a lot of characters in each issue, and I hope they do something with all of them and don't let them fall to the wayside. I also hope they don't introduce so many that it becomes hard to follow. I love the direction it's going, and I love the art. The art, ahhhhh... The art. It combines just enough realism and cartoon stylings that it evokes the best of modern and older times. I love the feel of it as a whole, it evokes a hearty feel to it. I can't really do it justice in words, so I hope you know what I'm talking about. The comic even makes fun of itself at times, poking fun at the naming conventions of superheroes and other typical tropes of the genre. I like the comic, I like the artist, and I like the writing in this. So while I would like to get into this further, I'm having a hard time talking about it outside of saying that it's good and go check it out. So, I guess I'm gonna wrap this up by saying that it's good, and go check it out!
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