<< 1 >>
Rating: Summary: One of Crossgen's Best... Review: A very under-rated book, while other Crossgen titles seem to get more press, this one truly delivers. Atlantis, long grist for any dreamer's mind, is given a fresh look here. This isn't the Submariner's Atlantis, blue-skinned people living in a fantastic underwater city in the depths of the ocean, but rather people actually dealing with the calamity that destroyed their island, as well as adjusting to life some 100,000 years in the future. Alright, it isn't very realistic, and the parts that deal with Atlantean society are, for me, anyway, the most interesting, but one has to keep in mind that it's a comic book. It would have been nice to see them awaken to this time, when opinion seems to be evenly divided whether Atlantis is fact or fiction, but setting it faroff in the future also gives it an ironic twist to it, where they are left wondering what kind of civilization we may have once had. Honestly, the book doesn't even need all it's superhero team trappings, it succeeds just on at it's terms of being a book about Atlantis and it's characters, but, being a comic, one has to realize that much of that comes with the territory. Mark Waid is a great writer who's words often seen in a comic book, and his characterizations are dead on, a very literate comic book writer. Steve Epting has long been one of the most under-rated artists in comics, in my view one of comics's best, and his work on the Avengers a few years ago was one of the high points of the industry during the nineties. Anyone sick of the current Japinese anime art style will love his work here, few artists can master actual human expressions as Steve Epting does. Anime may have some strengths, but expression certainly isn't one of them. As I said, I would have preferred a little more of Waid and Epting's take on Atlantis, Atlantis Rising is good enough that it doesn't need to cater to the typical comic book conventions, but it is an intelligent, well written book that should keep people hooked, not only to the mystery of what happened to Atlantis, but the rest of civilization.
Rating: Summary: One of Crossgen's Best... Review: A very under-rated book, while other Crossgen titles seem to get more press, this one truly delivers. Atlantis, long grist for any dreamer's mind, is given a fresh look here. This isn't the Submariner's Atlantis, blue-skinned people living in a fantastic underwater city in the depths of the ocean, but rather people actually dealing with the calamity that destroyed their island, as well as adjusting to life some 100,000 years in the future. Alright, it isn't very realistic, and the parts that deal with Atlantean society are, for me, anyway, the most interesting, but one has to keep in mind that it's a comic book. It would have been nice to see them awaken to this time, when opinion seems to be evenly divided whether Atlantis is fact or fiction, but setting it faroff in the future also gives it an ironic twist to it, where they are left wondering what kind of civilization we may have once had. Honestly, the book doesn't even need all it's superhero team trappings, it succeeds just on at it's terms of being a book about Atlantis and it's characters, but, being a comic, one has to realize that much of that comes with the territory. Mark Waid is a great writer who's words often seen in a comic book, and his characterizations are dead on, a very literate comic book writer. Steve Epting has long been one of the most under-rated artists in comics, in my view one of comics's best, and his work on the Avengers a few years ago was one of the high points of the industry during the nineties. Anyone sick of the current Japinese anime art style will love his work here, few artists can master actual human expressions as Steve Epting does. Anime may have some strengths, but expression certainly isn't one of them. As I said, I would have preferred a little more of Waid and Epting's take on Atlantis, Atlantis Rising is good enough that it doesn't need to cater to the typical comic book conventions, but it is an intelligent, well written book that should keep people hooked, not only to the mystery of what happened to Atlantis, but the rest of civilization.
Rating: Summary: CrossGen's superheroes (admit it, guys...) Review: Although CrossGen Comics has made a point of not doing any "superhero" comic books, Crux is definitely the book to give to your average superhero fan. It has all the elements of a superhero team -- a diverse group of people, each with a unique super power, thrust together into harrowing circumstances with the fate of the world resting on their shoulders.Of course, like everything CrossGen does, this book has a twist. The "superheroes" in question are survivors of the lost city of Atlantis. Millennia ago, half of the Atlaneans underwent some great transformation while the rest went into cryogenic sleep on Earth to guide the developing race of humans. In the far future, seven Atlanteans are awakened to find Earth deserted, its final fate being some sort of galactic amusement park. The question is, what happened to mankind, what happened to the other Atlanteans and what are these strange monsters called the Negation that attack the remnants of Earth? As far as high-octane superhero mystery goes, you can't beat it. The characters are distinctive while never falling into stereotypes -- twins bicker but their powers are only strongest when together, the muscular "tough guy" of the group is really something of a pacifist. And as the title implies, this book seems to be where the keys to unlocking the mystery of the CrossGen universe lie. It also ties in very closely with another CrossGen book, "The Negation," which is also a spectacular read.
Rating: Summary: Earth and Atlantis ...Where it all Began Review: At the time of this review Crux and Negation are my personal favorite Crossgen titles. Crossgen has done a wonderful job of creating a very fascinating universe. It's our universe and Crux's events take place on Earth, albeit many millenia in the future. Not without cause is this title named Crux for Crossgen has promised Earth and the story told here will be...well, the crux of the Crossgen universe. We are introduced to Atlantis and 9 key figures - the 7 Atlanteans, one human and a mysterious stranger who awakens them from stasis but refuses to tell them why. The stranger grants them an orange sigil-mark (in marked contrast to the yellow and red sigils of characters in other CG comics). And thus the mystery begins. Why did Atlantis drown? What happened to the other transitioned Atlanteans? Where has homo sapiens - the race the Atlanteans were mentoring in its infancy - gone? And why are they being attacked by strange bug-like creatures? I agree this book is the one to give to a comics-reader who likes team superhero books as in one sense Crux is such a book. That is, it features characters wielding powers not available to ordinary humans even though these characters wear normal clothes (no spandex or capes here). Of course, by that broad definition the majority of Japanese Anime also falls into the superhero genre. Nonetheless, this team doesn't go around fighting crime. There is a depth to the story as hints are dropped of a larger epic storyline which is a feature that runs through all of Crossgen's comics. You do not need to read any other comic or graphic novel in the Crossgen universe if you don't wish. Crossgen has taken care to make sure each story can be understood and enjoyed alone. But if you choose to read some of their other comics or trades (I HIGHLY recommend Negation) a story-arc on the scale of an Epic emerges (and I do mean Epic with a capital "E"). In one sense this very coherent world has some of the same elements that make me love Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. As the story unfolds in Crux you begin to see true depth to the history, myths and legends that shaped the Atlanteans, Earth and interest is piqued in the mystery of missing humanity. Characterization is particularly strong. I got a very distinct sense of each members own personality, likes, dislikes, etc. Here is the chance to see one conception of the beauty and history of Atlantis (the art is breathtaking - Atlantis definitely looks "Atlantean") with fascinating characters struggling in a world that has drastically changed from the one they knew. Any fantasy or science-fiction fan should give this graphic novel a shot.
<< 1 >>
|