Another spectacularly beautiful issue. If they just published a series of stories about the monsters on Monster Island illustrated by Mike Del Mundo, it would be just the most lovely thing. The jungle setting of this issue is reminiscent (or pre-miniscent?) of the Weirdworld books, though the palette's a little more conservative.
We've also got an assassin in this issue who literally gains peoples' abilities when he consumes a part of their bodies. So that's pretty awesome and gross all at once.
If there's one criticism I'd make about this comic, and it's endemic of comics more broadly in the last few years, it's that the 6-issue story arc has become the standard format. I know that, from a publishing viewpoint, this is because 6 issues seems to be the standard size of a trade paperback, and if you can sell a substantial book with a complete story in it, so much the better. But I think I'm of a mind, these days at least, that a comic should be able to tell you a good, solid story in only one or two issues, at least to begin with. Introduce the character and the setting, set the atmosphere, tell a short story that's indicative of the longer one's to come. The creative team behind Elektra instead chose the 6-issue route (or longer than 2, anyway), which, unfortunately, leaves us having to stop mid-story. As I said yesterday, I'll be tracking these down eventually, but wouldn't it be nice to have had a complete story. I think expecting a reader to stick with you for six months on an untested title is a bit much to expect. Build a readership and then tell longer stories.
Well, that's how I'd do it, anyway.
To be continued.
No comments:
Post a Comment