That said: Stuart Immonen is one of those artists who always just nails whatever he’s working on–layout, pacing, page design, character design. (Does this series make him the first artist to draw event/crossover titles for both Marvel and DC, since he drew The Final Night too?) Again, this is a case where the fact that certain little details have been taken care of convinces me that the ambiguous stuff is going somewhere–making almost all the word balloons circular, a la John Workman’s Thor lettering, signals on a nearly subliminal level that this is basically a Thor story. At the same time, there are a couple of weird little lapses in the writing that work the opposite way: “My hammer–a legendary weapon of unspeakable violence–of which only I am worthy to wield–hungers for this.” (Where’d that second “of” come from?)
Also worth noting: 44 pages of story is a nice, solid deal for $3.99. I don’t imagine it’s what we’re going to be getting after this issue, but it’s a good gesture.
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GRAEME: Moving on to Nonplayer #1: First things first–this is a BEAUTIFUL book. The star of the show is definitely the art, with Nate Simpson’s work having echoes of Jamie McKelvie, Josh Middleton and even a little bit of Brandon Graham (Graham’s pin-up at the back really pushing that idea home, I think). It’s not just the spare, open linework that won me over, though – and the design Simpson gives his panels and pages, such space used to so well! – but the color, as well; every hue is so well-chosen, it’s just an amazing, amazing thing to look at.
The problem for me is, I looked at it more than I read it. Maybe it’s my discomfort with the fantasy genre in general, but I really had a hard time getting into the story at first, with tropes that seemed very familiar and a feeling of, I don’t know, forced alienness, perhaps, about the whole thing. The fantasy scenes felt like they were trying too hard, perhaps? And although the book kept taking more and more steps towards something much more familiar and mundane, the writing still hadn’t won me over by the end of the issue, again because of the familiarity. I felt like we’ve seen the slacker savant character escaping into a fantasy world done before too many times to be compelling, especially with the well-meaning-but-nagging mother there to push the plot ahead. By the end of the issue, no character felt real to me, which made everything seem very inconsequential. It’s a shame; I can’t tell if I’m missing something, or whether this just isn’t for me, but I finished the issue slightly disappointed. The art deserved a better story to illustrate, I think. But what do you guys think?
EVAN: Graeme, stop taking all the words out of my head! Now I have nothing to write.
Seriously, I agree that the art outweighed anything the reader got in terms of plot. I gravitated toward this book because Simpson has a creative background in video games, having most recently done work for Gas Powered Games’ Demigod. And that background shows here, as Simpson shows off massive amounts of talent at world-building and layering concepts on top of one another. The designs, the colors and proportions are all cleverly, invitingly imagined and, holy crap, his draftsmanship is off the charts. He shows supreme confidence in his linework, but doesn’t make the mistake of overdrawing either. I see some McKelvie in there, too, Graeme, but I was also reminded of Geof Darrow and Michael Kaluta.
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But the story felt like three teases stacked on top of each other. I actually wanted to see what the intrigue was going to be in that first Final Fantasy-esque world, and then I wanted to see more of the interstital dreamscape gameworld, too. When we finally get to “reality,” it’s all a bit too familiar in its mundanity. Simpson voices the characters well, but the good dialogue’s in service of a plot that most gamers and comic nerds are already overly familiar with.
I was left feeling like the art and the plot are at war here. I want to learn more about this world (worlds?), its history and the rules that govern it but I don’t want to have to do it through the storyline that it seems we’re gonna get.
But, goddamn it, I may just show up again for more of this art.