Comics I Bought This Week: June 30, 2012
I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got seven new comics plus two hard cover collections:
And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.
”Morning Glories Deluxe Collection Volume One” by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma
This volume collects the first twelve issues of “Morning Glories” and I have to say that I’m a bit disappointed with it. It’s funny that there is an introduction to this book written by Damon Lindelof who is one of the people behind the TV series “Lost” because this book reminds me of “Lost” in both its strengths and weaknesses.
“Lost” was a TV show that pioneered a weird new kind of plot/mystery. To me that type of mystery boils down to “What the heck is going on in this show?”. “Morning Glories” makes me wonder what the heck is going on in this comic. There is no real plot besides the basic six kids are accepted to a private school where they are cut off from the world and weird things happen. The people who run the school might be evil or they might not be. Who knows? I’ve read twelve issues of this and I don’t know much more than that about it. The kids have been put through all sorts of trials and tribulations but to what point? I don’t know. But worse I stopped caring.
Much like “Lost” we get flashbacks and even flash-forwards that don’t clarify things as much as they create yet another layer of “What the heck is going on in this book?”. It’s not badly done though. Much like any individual episode of “Lost” could have a nice little story in it any individual issue of “Morning Glories” can be have a good story. It’s the overall plotlessness of it that makes me feel like I’m spinning my wheels while reading it. I think this might be a comic that’s better read month to month than in a collection. That way I might appreciate an individual issue separate for the pointless main story.
The artwork is a little bland too. That may have something to do with the setting, a bland school, and the clothes, bland school uniforms, but it’s also that no line weight style that’s all over the place these days. The colorist, Rodin Esquejo, tries to add some richness to the illustration but more often just seems to add to the blandness. If all the characters are going to be wearing regular clothes than the artist should find a more interesting way to draw them. He’s particularly poor at folds. Almost every fold is a single weight line. Look at some old school art where everyone was always in a suit, like in the early issues of Creepy that Dark Horse has been reprinting, and you’ll se how to draw clothes. Those guys could do folds. The art here really isn’t bad but it is dull.
That almost sums up my take on “Morning Glories” in general. It’s far from bad but I found it a little dull over all. Not because things didn’t happen but because there didn’t seem to be much moving the story forward. It all seemed like an exercise in treading water when I would rather be swimming.
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