Post by jainitai on Apr 2, 2008 20:06:57 GMT -5
Okay, so I know some of you haven't had the opportunity to read the book yet, so I won't tell you about the ending where the spaceship appears and an alien dry humps Red Morden...oops.
But seriously, here's my little two cent review:
Having already have seen most of the black and white pages at the Big Apple Con, I was fairly prepared for what I was going to be seeing visually. And from the limited color previews we've seen of it around here, I was also prepared for the color.
Now I know, I know...we seem to have beaten the whole gray-color palette debate to death, but I think it's an important point to critique, as the coloring can make or break the artwork. I was hoping it would look a little more vibrant in print, but I have to admit I was still disappointed. On one page (I believe the second, splash page) everything was such a uniform gray-ish, flesh tone that even Red's teeth were flesh colored! Huh? The best parts about the coloring were some of the backgrounds, like the mountains and the sunset. Everything else was, well...gray. I think this really flattened and deadened Tim's artwork. Like I said, having seen it in black and white, it was ironically more dynamic and interesting to look at than it is colored. I can only hope there will be a black and white version of this book.
Story-wise...hmm...it didn't really leave much of an impression on me. It felt rushed. And the whole old-grandpa-telling-young-whipper-snapper-kid the "saga" of Red Morden was a bit cliche, sort of like, "Gather round the fire, young'ins, whilst I tell you a story of old". I get the themes that were being developed in the story, but again, it just seemed rushed. Red's fear of dark, confined spaces was interesting, but not really explained and Bryanna's (sp?) ability to see the future wasn't really explained either. Was she some kind of goddess or a medium for spirits or a diviner? And why were all of the other vikings (is that what they are?) such wussies and wouldn't help Red face the dragon/demon? Seems like such a non-warrior trait for men of this trade.
Anyway, I don't want to give too much away (not that there's a whole lot to give away, since we've seen most of the pages posted here and you can pretty much assume what happens), so I won't talk too much about the story now.
As far as Tim's art, it's fairly solid for deadline based work, although it's definitely not at the Faust level. But there are some places where his brilliance shines, particularly the whole scenario when Red enters the cave and the detail on the demon (you can see Tim's in his element there). The first half of the book seems rather uninspired and you can see places where perhaps Tim was just rushing to get it done. Actually I think Tim even mentioned that to me, i.e. - that he illustrated the dragon fighting scene first and then did the first half of the book afterwards. You can really tell if you look closely and know Tim's style between work he puts his soul into and work he does to just get done (more like in a convention sketch mindset). But like I said, it's all still solidly illustrated.
Bottom line: the book is only mildly entertaining story-wise, the color kills the artwork (in my humble opinion) and the last half is illustrated better than the beginning. After I read it I kind of felt like, "Meh...that was it?" It sort of just came and went. All it really did was get me excited about the next issue of Faust!
I would give Dark Kingdom the following Jai-o-meter rating:
Story - 5 out of 10
Colors - 5 out of 10
Artwork (without color) - 8 out of 10
This gives the overall rating a 6 out of 10.
And that's my two cents (although I could give more cents, but then it would probably just become annoying).
But seriously, here's my little two cent review:
Having already have seen most of the black and white pages at the Big Apple Con, I was fairly prepared for what I was going to be seeing visually. And from the limited color previews we've seen of it around here, I was also prepared for the color.
Now I know, I know...we seem to have beaten the whole gray-color palette debate to death, but I think it's an important point to critique, as the coloring can make or break the artwork. I was hoping it would look a little more vibrant in print, but I have to admit I was still disappointed. On one page (I believe the second, splash page) everything was such a uniform gray-ish, flesh tone that even Red's teeth were flesh colored! Huh? The best parts about the coloring were some of the backgrounds, like the mountains and the sunset. Everything else was, well...gray. I think this really flattened and deadened Tim's artwork. Like I said, having seen it in black and white, it was ironically more dynamic and interesting to look at than it is colored. I can only hope there will be a black and white version of this book.
Story-wise...hmm...it didn't really leave much of an impression on me. It felt rushed. And the whole old-grandpa-telling-young-whipper-snapper-kid the "saga" of Red Morden was a bit cliche, sort of like, "Gather round the fire, young'ins, whilst I tell you a story of old". I get the themes that were being developed in the story, but again, it just seemed rushed. Red's fear of dark, confined spaces was interesting, but not really explained and Bryanna's (sp?) ability to see the future wasn't really explained either. Was she some kind of goddess or a medium for spirits or a diviner? And why were all of the other vikings (is that what they are?) such wussies and wouldn't help Red face the dragon/demon? Seems like such a non-warrior trait for men of this trade.
Anyway, I don't want to give too much away (not that there's a whole lot to give away, since we've seen most of the pages posted here and you can pretty much assume what happens), so I won't talk too much about the story now.
As far as Tim's art, it's fairly solid for deadline based work, although it's definitely not at the Faust level. But there are some places where his brilliance shines, particularly the whole scenario when Red enters the cave and the detail on the demon (you can see Tim's in his element there). The first half of the book seems rather uninspired and you can see places where perhaps Tim was just rushing to get it done. Actually I think Tim even mentioned that to me, i.e. - that he illustrated the dragon fighting scene first and then did the first half of the book afterwards. You can really tell if you look closely and know Tim's style between work he puts his soul into and work he does to just get done (more like in a convention sketch mindset). But like I said, it's all still solidly illustrated.
Bottom line: the book is only mildly entertaining story-wise, the color kills the artwork (in my humble opinion) and the last half is illustrated better than the beginning. After I read it I kind of felt like, "Meh...that was it?" It sort of just came and went. All it really did was get me excited about the next issue of Faust!
I would give Dark Kingdom the following Jai-o-meter rating:
Story - 5 out of 10
Colors - 5 out of 10
Artwork (without color) - 8 out of 10
This gives the overall rating a 6 out of 10.
And that's my two cents (although I could give more cents, but then it would probably just become annoying).
I thought there'd be a ton of reviews and opinions on it by now. I'm curious to hear what other Vigil fans here thought of it. 
