I am going to make every attempt to approach this review from a completely politically neutral position. Mainly because of how interesting it is as a story, rather than the content’s effects on the general public, whatever those may be. Also, because I never talk about politics or religion. Both of those topics are social suicide. You know why? Because this is just a story, a political one, but a story nonetheless. I know how easily people are affected by the entertainment industry’s very powerful influence. Whether it’s trying to influence them or not. Sometimes we just get carried away with stuff. I’m just here for its entertainment value. I doubt that Max Bemis is trying to spread his own political propaganda in the form of entertainment to fool us. From the look of this series, he’s way too intelligent to think that that kind of thing would be so easily camouflaged. I will admit that I hope nothing like this ever happens though, but I am extremely fascinated by this book so far. I read the first two issues back to back. I wanted to make sure that I had the idea fresh in my head before I sat down at my computer and was expected to speak on it intelligently. Whether or not this review seems to be written by an intelligent person or not, I would want the person or people reading this to think at the least, that I’m not a total moron. But maybe I am, and I’m just trying to cover it up by reviewing this book instead of some other book that I won’t mention to preserve feelings.
The sands are shifting in America’s public consciousness. One action has torn the country apart in a debate over the meaning of right and wrong, and Reese is not about to stand by as the American people support the rantings of a mad man. But how far will people go to take a stand for what they believe in? Source
I remind you that I am an advocate for well-written books with engrossing dialogue. This is one of those books. I don’t know how Max does it. This is some compelling stuff. And the cast of characters is pretty impressive so far. Very memorable. I’m liking this. I hope that he can keep this series at least this strong for the rest of the first arc. That will make it easier to keep it in my pull list for longer. So many books tend to lose steam after the first arc, like basically any Marvel or DC reboot (sorry, folks). Except Thor: God of Thunder. That book is outstanding. But I digress. This book has a very Garth Ennis feel. I mean that in the best possible way. I know that some writers/artists don’t like being compared to other writers/artists, but If someone compared me to Miley Cyrus even, I’d be pumped. And I don’t mean that as a slight to Miley Cyrus, she’s kinda sexy.
And Getty’s art is really great. His art is perfect for the feel of this book. It wouldn’t work nearly as well if the characters had a less realistic look to them. You have a mature story being told, you need mature looking characters to match. I don’t think that indie, gritty, “kinda crappily drawn on purpose” style would work for this book. I’m not really a fan of that stuff anyway.
I would only recommend this book to certain people. I’m not exactly sure how big the fan base could possibly be for something like this, but it’s good. I really like it. It might have to be one of those comics that you just take a chance on because there’s this really awesome reviewer online telling you to. This review is for all you people out there who were totally intrigued by the cover and wondered what it was all about, like me.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Max Bemis Artist: Ransom Getty Publisher: Boom Studios Price: $3.99 Release Date: 4/23/14 Format: Mini-Series, Print/Digital