This is a first for me: the first time
I've been asked by the makers to review a product. I was quite
surprised. I don't exactly have a large readership. But I'm more
than happy to do it. I was also excited when I found out that it was
written by John Franklin (Isaac from Children
of the Corn),
and Tim Sulka (his co-writer for Children
of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return).
That said, I wish I had something good
to say about this comic. I really have racked my brain for something
positive or something I enjoyed about it, and I just have nothing. I
didn't especially hate it, it isn't really long enough to hate, but
it doesn't seem to know how to tell it's own story.
The first volume is short enough that I
can't reveal too much without spoilers, but I'll cover what I can.
Firstly, I can tell the artist is going
for an abstract style, but when proportions change so much between
panels, it just looks sloppy. There's no real sense of weight or
speed given to anything, even in scenes depicting acts of violence.
They just look goofy.
More significantly, though, is the
story. It's quite obviously a retelling of Sweeney Todd, but the
comic still needs to hammer this home when the protagonist calls
himself “Todd Sweeney.” Todd is a barber released from a prison
run by monks into a world suffering from a meat shortage, and is
sexually assaulted by two different people who give him rides on his
way to take revenge on the barber who killed his family. I'm not
going go spend this review debating the merits of sexual assault in
horror, but I will say that I don't know why it needs to happen twice
in a volume already so short.
I could probably still deal with all of
this if the characters were remotely compelling, but the story moves
too quickly for real development. The woman who seems intended as
Todd's love interest seems to help him for...reasons. I suspect the
writers were limited in how many pages they could include, and wanted
to make sure that something significant happened before the end of
the first volume to draw the readers back in. Personally, I think
they would have had better luck with flashbacks, or even flash
forwards.
I've tried hard to find something good
to say about this comic. My readers know I can usually find good
qualities even in crappy works. But here I just have nothing.
Unless you really want to read a comic by Isaac, skip this one.
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