February 12, 2017
This was different. Don't know how this comment and critique are going to make this make much sense. It was better and worse than everything I have read up to this point in the Defiant Universe. That should make a few points and decisions easier later.
First of all - Cockrum's art. It kills me to go down this road. Some of my favorite comics - like X-Men 94... That was his. This is not evidence of his best work. But surprisingly, that tends to really work with this. The softening of the reality works inside of this Plasm world. Even the strange proportions on a few Lorca designs didn't upset me. It wasn't until the end when the five headed back to Earth for the holiday meals that it started to rub me the wrong way.
The text, dialogue, and story are all much simpler. That is good and bad. On the good side - it's much easier to keep all of these characters straight - and I think that I even have a better feel for a few of the characters. I sense what's going on with these kids, and feel for them. In addition, I think that the comic is more readable to a wider audience, and more likely that many of these readers would hold onto the comic. Unfortunately, it comes from a comic that probably coast three times any other read. If I was wandering around with my hard-earned dollars in middle school or high school, I would have been unlikely to invest in this comic in comparison to another - so less likely to buy.
The down in complexity also brings out some serious moments of doubt in the drive. When the characters try to explain Christmas to the residents - and Shooter's bitterness sings through - he seems totally floored - but still wrongly (but kindly) creates a Christmas for the characters.
In the good again - the writing that creates a single copy - or recreates the original copy - is a cool concept. I wish that the story could have explored this concept either more in this issue - and made the holidays thing a background - or instead to put the story into a stand-alone issue. Wrap the story closed within the larger arc of the entirety of the story. Since everything is recycled, the every part of everything could be found and brough back together. Lorca does the right thing as placed and told by Laygen originally - but that level of passion isn't conveyed. Seeing Lorca as a sideline character here de-prioritizes the potential in the story. Some real successes with continuing readers - but some fails, too. Probably common within the line here.
First of all - Cockrum's art. It kills me to go down this road. Some of my favorite comics - like X-Men 94... That was his. This is not evidence of his best work. But surprisingly, that tends to really work with this. The softening of the reality works inside of this Plasm world. Even the strange proportions on a few Lorca designs didn't upset me. It wasn't until the end when the five headed back to Earth for the holiday meals that it started to rub me the wrong way.
The text, dialogue, and story are all much simpler. That is good and bad. On the good side - it's much easier to keep all of these characters straight - and I think that I even have a better feel for a few of the characters. I sense what's going on with these kids, and feel for them. In addition, I think that the comic is more readable to a wider audience, and more likely that many of these readers would hold onto the comic. Unfortunately, it comes from a comic that probably coast three times any other read. If I was wandering around with my hard-earned dollars in middle school or high school, I would have been unlikely to invest in this comic in comparison to another - so less likely to buy.
The down in complexity also brings out some serious moments of doubt in the drive. When the characters try to explain Christmas to the residents - and Shooter's bitterness sings through - he seems totally floored - but still wrongly (but kindly) creates a Christmas for the characters.
In the good again - the writing that creates a single copy - or recreates the original copy - is a cool concept. I wish that the story could have explored this concept either more in this issue - and made the holidays thing a background - or instead to put the story into a stand-alone issue. Wrap the story closed within the larger arc of the entirety of the story. Since everything is recycled, the every part of everything could be found and brough back together. Lorca does the right thing as placed and told by Laygen originally - but that level of passion isn't conveyed. Seeing Lorca as a sideline character here de-prioritizes the potential in the story. Some real successes with continuing readers - but some fails, too. Probably common within the line here.