A Review: Heroes Rebored
I got sent another comic to review! How cool is that?
Anyway, the comic in question is Writer Block Productions' Heroes Rebored: Mundane Super-Heroics at it's Best. (You can read Ragnell's review here.)
I'm not a very good judge of art, but I have no real complaints. Each character is comfortably distinctive in design and color scheme and they're portrayed consistently throughout the book. The style is simplistic, particularly in terms of backgrounds. In many close up panels, there's only a solid color background. It's something that would probably bother me in other comics, but it seems to suit this story well. I also like the way the cityscape and title fonts seem to be an homage to Kirby's style. (It is Kirby City, after all. :-))
The story is cute and sweet and takes place in a single issue. For all the superhero setting, the story is focused much more on the characters than the heroics. Dynamic Dan is the main character, one of those hapless nice guys you can't help but love. He's too busy helping people with mundane problems to really get much recognition as a hero. When his friend, the Imagineer, gets a lucky break and starts letting it get to his head, there are problems.
The interactions between the characters are a strong point of the comic. The strained friendship between Dan and the Imagineer is the central focus of the comic, and it's very well done. The character dynamics are very familiar and it wouldn't really matter if they were athletes, office workers, artists or any other job, because we've all been there.
The other characters don't get as much focus but there are some standouts. I'm particularly fond of Scorp, the King of Calimari, and Gladiator who refers to himself in third person and hits things a lot, which is always cool.
My only real problem is pretty tangential to the actual plot. It's never really explained what the characters' abilities are. To be fair, the superhero aspect is the setting, not the theme, of the story. Any fights are solely there to further the character-centric plot. Still, it seems oddly incomplete to not really know what any of these guys can do.
That said, it's definitely an enjoyable read. I'd recommend it!
Anyway, the comic in question is Writer Block Productions' Heroes Rebored: Mundane Super-Heroics at it's Best. (You can read Ragnell's review here.)
I'm not a very good judge of art, but I have no real complaints. Each character is comfortably distinctive in design and color scheme and they're portrayed consistently throughout the book. The style is simplistic, particularly in terms of backgrounds. In many close up panels, there's only a solid color background. It's something that would probably bother me in other comics, but it seems to suit this story well. I also like the way the cityscape and title fonts seem to be an homage to Kirby's style. (It is Kirby City, after all. :-))
The story is cute and sweet and takes place in a single issue. For all the superhero setting, the story is focused much more on the characters than the heroics. Dynamic Dan is the main character, one of those hapless nice guys you can't help but love. He's too busy helping people with mundane problems to really get much recognition as a hero. When his friend, the Imagineer, gets a lucky break and starts letting it get to his head, there are problems.
The interactions between the characters are a strong point of the comic. The strained friendship between Dan and the Imagineer is the central focus of the comic, and it's very well done. The character dynamics are very familiar and it wouldn't really matter if they were athletes, office workers, artists or any other job, because we've all been there.
The other characters don't get as much focus but there are some standouts. I'm particularly fond of Scorp, the King of Calimari, and Gladiator who refers to himself in third person and hits things a lot, which is always cool.
My only real problem is pretty tangential to the actual plot. It's never really explained what the characters' abilities are. To be fair, the superhero aspect is the setting, not the theme, of the story. Any fights are solely there to further the character-centric plot. Still, it seems oddly incomplete to not really know what any of these guys can do.
That said, it's definitely an enjoyable read. I'd recommend it!
posted by kalinara @ 12:47 AM
2 Comments:
At August 05, 2006 10:52 PM,
Ferrous Buller said…
"It's never really explained what the characters' abilities are."
Actually, I find that refreshing: most superhero books are so fixated on enumerating people's abilities, it's nice to see one where they don't really matter to the story.
Well, if both you and Ragnell like it, I guess I'll have to check it out now... :-)
At August 06, 2006 1:04 AM,
kalinara said…
:-) You should! You'll probably like it!
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