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December 11, 2006
CrossGen Comics - Review...
From Colin Glassey:
CrossGen comics went out of business more than two years ago but I recently collected a bunch of their books. I wrote up a big essay on what they did (and did not do). I'm publishing this essay because I think it is worth putting out on the web. Today: A Review
Of the CrossGen comics, Crux was a complete failure on just about every level. I kept hoping it would get better and it never did. The characters were weak, the logic was non-existent, and the enemy was too powerful. Only when Aristophanes appeared did Crux attain some narrative force as that character actually believed in his cause and was utterly convinced of the correctness of his course of action.
The First, despite lovely art, costumes, and character design, proved emotionally and intellectually empty. I guess I should have known it would not work out when they spent most of the fist six episodes narrating a back-story which, frankly, wasn’t that interesting. Bottom line for the First: if you are going to make gods, give them something important to do!
Meridian, while not my cup of tea, was actually a good idea and seems to have been carried out well.
Sojourn, seemed to be a very obvious heroic fantasy, well illustrated but nothing special.
Sigil, a plain, straight forward narrative about a super hero up against overwhelming odds was good clean fun. Sadly, Sam Ray became too powerful and really nothing could stand in his way (once you can take planets apart with your mind, everything else seems – just a bit trivial). However the art work was great, the science fiction was reasonably well thought out, and one or two of the characters were realistic.
Scion was a winner, though Prince Ethan was just a bit to darn good in his behavior. He made tough choices and he lived with them. He was always doing the right thing, even when it hurt him. Also, the artwork was just a little too simple for my tastes (the faces were under-drawn in my opinion). Still, nice job overall.
Mystic was also a winner. Beautiful illustrations, very well thought out magic system and political/social dynamics. The problem, once Giselle has defeated one of the First (sort of), there was no where else to go for big drama. Giselle isn’t going to take on the Negation, they don’t fit into her “individual magical solutions”. They are a science fiction threat and she is a fantasy character. Her later quests to master all the forms of magic, while interesting, wasn’t the same level of drama as we had earlier. So Mystic I think went too big, too early in the challenge department. Still, the first 24 issues remain an impressive achievement. The artwork especially up until issue #19 was spectacular.
Negation was the best of the group, perhaps too good as it distorted all the other titles starting in early 2003. Never-the-less, Negation featured intelligent, gut-wrenching action. It had choices that mattered (as characters could be, and were, killed off). It had a wonderful semi-random assembly of strange people who all had to work together in order to survive. The final end of Negation was a shocking and unpleasant turn of events which calls into question the whole American ethos. Still, up until Gammid’s death in episode 27, this is one of the great works of modern science fiction. Kaine, Evinlea, Lizard Lady, all of the escapes, made for a stunning adventure.
-- Colin Glassey, December, 2006
Posted by rakhier at December 11, 2006 09:55 AM