The Review
All images courtesy of Antarctic Press, Inc
The first issue of this sci-fi double feature from Antarctic Press. I picked this up because it was only 99 cents on Comixology and the art looked neat. I'm also a sucker for graphic design that catches my eye, and the cover caught my eye. I really like the cover logo and how the issue number fits into it. I like the second story's art style a bit more than the first, but they both are consistent throughout.
Unfortunately, neither story makes good use of this format.
The first story, Interstellar Dust, wastes a few pages at the beginning showing
a ship almost running through a spacer. It doesn't add anything to the story
and this needs to be a strong and focused start considering the shorter page
count. Overall, 4-6 pages could be removed from this 15-page story and use this
extra space to get this story going. As is, it only introduces two characters
via their backstory and shows them being on the prison spaceship. That's it.
There's not enough to go by to hook you in to purchase the next issue.
I’d only recommend this because of the price point and if
the person was looking for something to waste some time on.
High Point(s)
- The art in the second story really works for me, even if the sequential storytelling suffers a bit
- The price point
Low Point(s)
- Neither story makes the best use of their limited page count
The Editing
I’m going to start the page count over for the second story
in this comic.
The Covers
I like both covers a lot. I don’t have any issues except the
Antarctic Press and Mature Content images ruin the title’s design a bit.
Interstellar Dust - Page One & Two
Unneeded. Should be removed.
Page Four
Replace with a page introducing Cael in his prison cell as
they did with Alcee later.
Page Five
Cael’s arm and leg are off. His arm looks too low/long and
should be shown resting on his knee like it is in the two other panels you can
see him in.
Adding in a sound effect for a door closing or something in
the last panel wouldn’t be terrible.
Page Seven
The girl looks evil in the third panel which seems slightly out of character.
Page Eight & Nine
I feel like these could have been merged into one page
(removing/shrinking some of the panels).
Page Eleven through Fourteen
There’s a lot in here that could have been cut out and
shrunk to two pages.
Page Fifteen
Alcee’s face is weird in panel three and there’s a weird white dot under her left eye.
Hazel - Page One
The panels are all too big for what is on this page. The
“We’re at 3,500 feet. 3 minutes from the L.Z.” and “Prepare to drop.” could be
bubbles pointing to the cockpit of the aircraft.
The dialog bubble is a little small in panel four. Make it a
little larger so the text isn’t so close to the border.
Page Two
This page should be combined with page one.
Making the height callout dialog a normal bubble and point to the ship would have made them stand out more vice getting lost at the bottom of the panel.
Menek’s dialog bubbles should be a little bigger again. The connection between the two either needs to be thicker (most likely with black in middle) or just overlap the bubbles. The yellow line gets lost in the art.
Page Three
Panel two shouldn't exist. It's a random person who makes no appearance and makes no impact on the rest of the story. It's very jarring to see. Could add the first sentence as an off-panel dialog box in the first panel and the second sentence as an off-panel dialog box in the third.
There’s a random “Swan” narration box in the middle of the fourth panel.
Page Four & Five
Move the first panel to panel three, possibly with a panel
with Clowee saying “Hatch closed.” on page three as well. Leave this two-page
spread as a nice splash of all four characters so they are easy to identify
later. Additionally, each member of the team should have had a line of dialog
in this shot so that readers can link the character design, dialog design
(since each character has it's own bubble and text color), and name/role
together, all in one shot.
Unless there’s something wrong with Clowee, give her the
normal oval dialog bubble shape and font.
The two pages are not aligned correctly in the ComiXology version of the issue I purchased.
Page Six
Unless there is a reason, give the baddie the normal dialog font. The font is also too large. Especially in the fifth panel.
Page Eight
The first and last panel is not needed. Off-panel dialog
boxes would work for Menek’s directions.
Same issue as earlier where the connection between Menek’s
dialog bubble needs to be addressed for being a weak connection.
Fill this page with something else more interesting. Lots of
wasted storytelling space.
Page Nine & Ten
This action sequence could probably be combined. Or throw
her busting in, guns blazing onto the previous page.
Page Eleven
I have no idea what the baddie is doing/what he’s sending at Hazel. There could be more than three panels on this page.
Page Twelve
Should combine with the previous page.
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