Comments on: The Emperor’s Picks - #1 - Received http://www.canadiangeek.org/blog/2007/05/25/the-emperors-picks-1-received/ Your Source for All Things Geek -- Comics, Movies, Music and, well, Geeks. Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:45:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: Andrew Foley http://www.canadiangeek.org/blog/2007/05/25/the-emperors-picks-1-received/#comment-5181 Andrew Foley Mon, 28 May 2007 02:22:33 +0000 http://www.canadiangeek.org/blog/2007/05/25/the-emperors-picks-1-received/#comment-5181 It's about Detective Richard Fell, a cop who's recently been relocated to a place called Snowtown, a "feral city" filled with various idiosyncratic characters that's falling apart around him. It's almost the polar opposite of NEXTWAVE--morally complex, moody art, reasonably human characters (albeit ones with plenty of foibles), straight crime/mystery stories, and almost unrelentingly grim. That said, I put it on the same artistic level as NW, it's just that its goals are vastly different. As interesting as the meat of each issue is, what really strikes me about the book is its origin as an experiment with format and serial comic release. The first book out in Image's Ellis-designed "slimline" format, each issue has a 16 page story, usually (I think always, but am not 100% on that) self-contained, with four pages of story notes by Ellis, Templesmith sketches, and various ramblings as value-added "back matter" (which I don't think is getting reproduced in the trade). Each 24-page-in-total issue sells for $1.99 American, making it one of the best deals out there for a serial comic reader who can deal with crime/noir material that doesn't feature men wearing their underwear on the outside. I'll be buying the trade, which I've been waiting for pretty much since the first issue. Foley It’s about Detective Richard Fell, a cop who’s recently been relocated to a place called Snowtown, a “feral city” filled with various idiosyncratic characters that’s falling apart around him.

It’s almost the polar opposite of NEXTWAVE–morally complex, moody art, reasonably human characters (albeit ones with plenty of foibles), straight crime/mystery stories, and almost unrelentingly grim. That said, I put it on the same artistic level as NW, it’s just that its goals are vastly different.

As interesting as the meat of each issue is, what really strikes me about the book is its origin as an experiment with format and serial comic release. The first book out in Image’s Ellis-designed “slimline” format, each issue has a 16 page story, usually (I think always, but am not 100% on that) self-contained, with four pages of story notes by Ellis, Templesmith sketches, and various ramblings as value-added “back matter” (which I don’t think is getting reproduced in the trade). Each 24-page-in-total issue sells for $1.99 American, making it one of the best deals out there for a serial comic reader who can deal with crime/noir material that doesn’t feature men wearing their underwear on the outside.

I’ll be buying the trade, which I’ve been waiting for pretty much since the first issue.

Foley

]]> By: Brian Guay http://www.canadiangeek.org/blog/2007/05/25/the-emperors-picks-1-received/#comment-5180 Brian Guay Sat, 26 May 2007 19:15:25 +0000 http://www.canadiangeek.org/blog/2007/05/25/the-emperors-picks-1-received/#comment-5180 What's FELL about? :) Bri What’s FELL about? :)

Bri

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