The Rapture # 1
Written by Taki Soma & Michael Avon Oeming
Art by Michael Avon Oeming
Published by Dark Horse Comics
What we've got here is a post-apocalyptic love story. I got to the last page and thought, "Aw. It's the love story that's going to drive this whole thing. It'll probably always be the cliff hanger - Evelyn and Gil either getting closer or further away from each other.
We know that I love Powers, and that a lot of that 'like' has to do with Mr. Oeming's art. No surprise here - I really like the art. Honestly though, there's something about this style of art that doesn't seem to fit with blood and guts for me. I mean, there are several depictions of heads coming off of bodies, either by beheading or explosion and it's a little jarring. Maybe it's supposed to be. But what I mean is that those pictures look a little more cartoon-ish, and when the gore stuff happens, I feel a bit unprepared. Maybe it's just me, since I don't remember minding the violence in Powers, but I was shocked to see so many flying heads. Not offended or anything. Just startled.
Anyhow, how do I feel about this comic? It's alright. I think the people who made it were anxious to get on with telling the story they wanted to tell, so they shoved a whole lot of backstory and information into this one issue. It's a little much. We've got the emotional break-up of this Evelyn and Gil couple, the sudden end-of-the world occurring while they're on cell phones talking to each other, the "Champions" becoming, um, extinct, and it's all immediately followed by....cannibalism! General awfulness! Then the ghost of one of the Champion's/or somebody shows up and tells Evelyn she's the chosen one, all while sad, sad Gil is possibly being seduced into moving on.
That's a lot of beats to hit. A three issue, prequel mini-series, I think, would have worked better. The love story has been depicted well, but the Champions? I need a little more info. We all do. So, this is how I wish it'd gone:
Issue One: The love story of Evelyn & Gil. Start it a little further back in time from when this book starts, then hit the cell phone call and the end-of-the-world commencing.
Issue Two: The story of the Champions. A brief history, in some creative way, of who they are, how they're help/hurt the world, and some abbreviated version of the conflict as it happens to correspond with the end-of-the world. Maybe ending with the cell phone call from issue one.
Issue Three: Evelyn in her post-apocalyptic reality. Gil in his. All the Evelyn becoming "chosen" stuff goes here.
I don't want to write comics, I'm just trying to figure a way in which this story would have made a bit more sense to me. But that kind of would work, right? Everything would be set up, the whole thing would be off and running! A full, spacious back-story to get us all caught up to the story that they really want to begin telling.
As it is, this comic's story was all jammed into one issue and it was just a little much. I love Oeming's art, but it felt like he was working too hard to cram everything in, the whole thing was just overstuffed and overfast. My favorite pages were a two page spread of the world going up in flames with the Champions ascending beneath the 4 large frames, and the four pages of Evelyn and Gil near the end - her in the present with the sword, and the two of them shown in a contrastingly colored series of flashbacks. Both of those are both nice and clean series of drawings that told the story really well. Most of the other pictures felt like they've got so much story to tell in each panel that it turned into a big mish-mash of interrupted dialog, confusion, and explosions.
I don't know what else to tell you on this one. This was my experience. I'm a little curious to see what happens next, episodically AND artistically, even though I wasn't really that excited in the reading process this time. For me, that's rare. I'm curious to see what Soma and Oeming do with the next issue and what the story that they really want to tell is all about. I'm rootin' for them.
-Nina Stone, 2009
I enjoy your reviews, Nina.
How far have you read in Powers?
There are some pretty gory images in that series.
Posted by: Phil | 2009.06.02 at 22:11