The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1351: Darkchylde: Redemption #1, February 2001

I wonder sometimes if there are things that particular artists can't draw that we don't notice in their art simply because they can't draw those things. Rob Liefeld has been given flack for years over his inability to render feet properly, but he still at least tries. There must be other artists who simply don't draw particular things because they've never been able to wrap their heads around them.

I kind of got this feeling today from Randy Queen's faces. Or rather, faces from particular angles. There's a few moments in this comic where Ariel Chylde seriously looks like she's got the Innsmouth Look, and I think it's just a particular angle on her face. It was a bit off-putting, but also kind of in keeping with the tone of the comic.

The story was pretty good, the art was also good, but I just think there's too many full on, almost model pose shots of the main character, something all of the "bad girl" comics suffer from. I get that part of the draw is impossibly proportioned and beautiful women, but the propensity to pose these characters tends to make the story a series of static images, rather than the sequential story it ought to be.

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1103: Dreams of Darkchylde "Chrome" Edition, 2001

I have no idea what this comic was about. Not a clue. I was only vaguely aware of the Darkchylde comics from their appearance in Previews when I had my store. They looked to me like another "Bad Girl" style book, in the Lady Death vein. So in order to perhaps entice those who were into that particular genre of comic, I ordered a special edition of one of the issues. What I've actually started finding is that many of these premium comics are now worth about as much as their regular editions. Ah, well. It makes an interesting piece to read for a blog.

In my assessment, I was kind of right - the art is definitely erring on the Chaos! Comics side of things. But the plot reads like an actual transcript of a dream. I know it's right there in the title, but I wasn't expecting literal dream writing. It's obviously serving some kind of prophetic purpose in the greater series, but there are some genuine moments of dream, where something bizarre is accepted simply as fact. I'm fascinated by these kinds of narrative. Rick Veitch's Rare Bit Fiends and its ilk are fascinating looks at our subconscious lives. I wonder if any of the dialogue or situation in this issue actually came from dreams?

So it's kind of mediocre (very much in line with the guiding aesthetic of the time, and not my favourite thing comics has ever done), but also kind of amazing. Which is not bad at all.

To be continued.