Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got two new comic plus a hard cover collection:

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

“Wasteland: The Apocalyptic Edition Volume One” by Antony Johnston and Christopher Mitten

I decided to give this one a try never having read any of the original comics because I read some nice reviews of it on Amazon. I put it on my wishlist and got it for Christmas. It collects the first twelve issues of the series “Wasteland” plus an “Interlude” story in a very nice hardcover package.

“Wasteland” is a post apocalyptic tale. It takes place a hundred years after The Bit Wet, whatever that was, destroyed the world. The world is a dry place now filled with wasteland. Hence the name of the story.

Though this book is pretty well done it’s also filled with ideas that I’ve seen a lot of before. An anti-social loner with a secret who wanders the wastelands – check. A spunky woman who can take care of herself and mother others – check. Her father figure/mentor – check. A bunch of wild mutants who live out in the wasteland and can move the plot along with violence when needed – check. A city with a corrupt ruling class and put-upon slaves/workers – check. A new religion that’s sweeping society which the powers that be see as destabilizing – check. It was all a little familiar.

There weren’t many surprises in the plot for me either. The whole reluctant hero thing is there. The two leads and the main bad guy all have some vague super powers and are mysteriously linked together somehow and it all has to do with the past and the Big Wet. Like a lot of post apocalyptic stories it all has to do with the past. I’d prefer if it were about the future. Plus like a lot of other post apocalyptic tales the mutants are just used to move the plot along whenever called for.

All that wasn’t even the main problem I had with the book. That is reserved for the storytelling. Though the art is nicely drawn sometimes I lost the thread of things. It’s weird though because the layouts were fine. It was the character design that was, at times, so confusing. Almost everyone was wearing long robes that had hoods on them so it was occasionally hard to tell one character from another. Especially in long shots. I’d get to an establishing shot and have no idea who was being established in the shot. And sometimes the artist would even draw a medium shot of a guy with long hair and a beard and then in the next panel a long shot of the same guy with shorter hair and no beard. At least I thought it was the same guy. It got confusing.

I actually liked the “Interlude” story at the back of the book best in this collection. That one was drawn by Carla Speed McNeil and she’s very talented and a favorite of mine. Her drawing and storytelling humanized the story more than the rest of the book. She really is good.

Despite its flaws this is not a bad comic. Sure, there is nothing new here but it’s still well done. There are twists and turns and plenty of action and it’s all well scripted and drawn but it didn’t excite me. But if you have a taste for post apocalyptic stories this isn’t a bad one.