A couple months ago, give or take a week or so, I was at a semi-local comic shop that I get to every now and then, but no great regularity. I don’t recall now what I was looking for at the time, but I wound up buying two issues apiece of The Massive and Mind the Gap, figuring I’d “try” a couple new series. But the way my luck goes–spend full price on something, and got distracted by other stuff.
So I only just a week or so back finally read The Massive. And, being labeled on the front cover as parts 1 and 2 of 3, I went ahead and bought the third issue this past weekend to finish out the first arc.
Written by: Brian Wood / Art by: Kristian Donaldson / Colors by: Dave Stewart / Letters by: Jared K. Fletcher / Covers by: Brian Wood, Kristian Donaldson, Rafael Grampa, Dave Stewart, J. P. Leon / Designer: Justin Couch / Assistant Editor: Jim Gibbons / Editor: Sierra Hahn / Published by: Dark Horse Comics / Cover Price: $3.50
The basic premise of the series as a whole seems to be that a series of huge environmental disasters happened that have screwed up most of the world’s governments and such, leaving the world in an everyone-for-themselves-or-their-power-base kind of state. Central to the story are several characters on the ship Kapital–one ship of a 2-ship fleet, as they seek out their sister ship (the larger of the two)–The Massive.
Mixed in with the ongoing events–evading pirates, restocking material resources for survival, etc.–we get flashbacks to see where the characters have come from, the stuff that makes up their relationships now.
The art isn’t bad–it’s got a nice style to it, conveying these “normal” humans going about their lives in this world. I use “normal” as opposed to the depiction of super-heroes and the flashier sort of thing you’d expect for that sort of comic. While the world they live in has changed drastically, these are just normal people getting by in somewhat extraordinary situations.
The story itself is a solid premise, and the characters seem like real people, with real lives, histories, and all that. Giving backstory as well as present story allows the exploration of two periods in characters’ lives, with plenty of depth for both periods and a lot of room to juxtapose things.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I just don’t find myself terribly engaged with anything in this first arc.
I find myself comparing this to the likes of a new tv show. If the Buffy season 8 & 9 comics can use each small arc as an “episode,” then this 3-parter is definitely a pilot episode. Yet, because it’s a comic series, it’s also already 3 issues in. I’m interested, yes, even though not really engaged…but like most tv shows these days, I’ll wait for word of mouth and reruns or the dvd (or in this case, collected volumes).
There’s something in general about The Massive that puts me in mind of stuff like Y: The Last Man or DMZ, where I have this feeling this is going to go somewhere, and have some strong character development, world-building, and generally be a great overall work. It’s just not working for me in the single-issue format; I’m not interested in (even though it’s less than my hated $3.99 point) paying $3.50/month to get tiny chapters of one greater whole. Assuming this goes on to be one of these longform finite stories, I’ll probably come back to it someday.
While it’s no $9.99 “bargain priced premiere volume” a la Vertigo or some of the Image stuff, I gave this just over $10, and while it’s not the greatest $10 I’ve ever spent, it’s a far cry from the worst.
Filed under: Dark Horse, The Massive | Tagged: Brian Wood, Comic Reviews, Dark Horse, Dark Horse Comics, Dave Stewart, J. P. Leon, Jared K. Fletcher, Jim Gibbons, Justin Couch, Kristian Donaldson, Landfall, Sierra Hahn, The Massive | Leave a comment »
I missed the original Guild 3-issue mini-series, and though I keep meaning to, as fo this typing have yet to snag the collected edition. However, between when that came out and when these one-shots started coming out last year, I watched the first four seasons of The Guild. A few weeks ago, I watched the whole of Season 5 in one go and greatly enjoyed it. So it was a REALLY pleasant surprise to discover this one-shot, after I thought all the one-shots were done coming out. I’ve quite enjoyed Wheaton’s appearances in The Guild and Big Bang Theory, so as with all the other characters’ one-shots, it’s a real treat to get a lot more spotlight on the specific character. In this case, we get the backstory to Fawkes that fills in the details of how he wound up where he did in season 5. The story’s good, and I liked the art. I especially like that these one-shots are truly that: one-issue stories that you don’t HAVE TO follow one to the next (though as a Guild fan, you’ll WANT to). (8.5/10) 
Not a whole lot to say about this issue. I enjoy this series, I look forward to seeing what happens next and where things go. But individual issues tend to blur together for me, as it’s the overarching stories and developments that stick with me. Of course, the sudden, unexpected death of a major character should ultimately leave this issue sticking out a bit. It’s weird–this character’s been around quite awhile–about half the existence of the series–and yet still never quite felt as familiar to me as the original group of survivors did. But the death definitely fits with the way the series runs. Two more issues to #100, and I’m thinking that after being back in on the single issues for the last several arcs…I may be ready to bow out for awhile to “just” catch up in the collected volumes. (7.5/10) 
I particularly like the focus on Rogue in this issue. Iron Man’s shown up, and starts taking apart the Jean Grey School faculty, until Rogue is convinced to throw down the glove and wade into things, “old school.” Between the previous issue and this one, there’s been a bit of focus on Rogue dealing with her past–which has prompted me to look a bit into her past in the comics myself, and as a result I’ve really enjoyed the relevant emotion of the character here: she got her start fighting the Avengers, and now she’s thrust back into fighting them again, despite years of growth and getting away from that. I’d say that continuity stuff very much fits this series’ title. The art’s not 100% to my liking–but on the whole no great problem with it. I am definitely looking forward to the next issue, and seeing what else develops for Rogue–as well as the rest of the cast. (8/10) 
This issue bridges the gap between panels in AvX #4, following Wolverine and Hope and how they secured transport to the moon. There’s also a bit of checking in on the various plot-points, some of which seem moot by now…feel like I’ve seen ’em play out in other ways in other issues…but I suppose THAT is one of the drawbacks to having jumped in on this AvX thing whole-hog. I don’t care too much about Kid Gladiator here, though it’ll be sorta interesting to see how that stuff plays out. The Iceman/Red Hulk fight reminded me of the Age of Apocalypse Iceman here with the numerous shells or ‘avatars’ of the original…not quite sure I care for that. Definitely like the art MUCH better on this issue than the previous. (7.5/10)
Comic Reviews by Walt 