Comics I Bought This Week: August 4, 2012
I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got nine new comics:
And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.
”Valentine” Issues 1-10 by Alex de Campi and Chrisine Larsen
I stumbled across this all digital series only when I read that it was about to be collected in print form. All ten issues can be had for free at Comixology. I used the iPad app of the same name to download and read the whole thing. It looks like it was designed for digital first and I have to say that is was one of the best digital reads I’ve had so far.
The story takes place during the war that Napoleon’s France had with Russia. On the long march back home to France as soldiers were dying all around our main character, Valentine, has an encounter with not only Russian soldiers that were trying to kill him but magical creatures who save his life and give him a mystical sword.
I especially liked the writing at the beginning as it brought across the mass death and tragedy of the war. It was a very human beginning for a story that took a turn towards the fantastic. The storytelling was also very well done. It takes advantage of the digital format well. Usually the whole iPad screen was a single panel so there was no problem reading the text. As you swipe across the screen the page turns. Sometimes a second panel is added to the page, sometimes words are added, sometimes an effect is triggered, but most times the page turns to the next one.
The art by Chrisine Larsen is well done. It reminded me a little of Jeff Smith (Bone, Rasl) and a little of Carla Speed McNeil (Finder) and the color on it is was also good. The color palette was kept limited for the most part and then pure bright color was used at times to good effect. Larsen also has a nice expressive line that can create a mood.
All in all this was an excellent comic that used the digital format nicely. I think this is a good direction for digital comics to go in.
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