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unladylike's review against another edition
2.0
This thing was all over the place, and mostly not in a good way. At times Morrison's script felt like he was pulling a Mark Millar (producing a comic book solely to sell it as a Hollywood film) while trying to maintain his own personal brand of weirdness. There were definitely some enjoyable parts, and Frazer Irving's art is beautiful, but most of the book is just elements and visuals pulled directly from so many other well-known sci-fi plots.
The [human] protagonist starts out closely resembling a sketch character from SNL's old "Goth Talk" series - a caricature of dark, brooding, emo types intentionally moving into a haunted house. But as soon as the Max Nomax - a character he's supposedly invented for his next screenplay - comes into his life, he becomes a scared, useless muggle. What happened to his edgy life pattern of dealings with the devilish?! Bah, it's all for the sake of some dynamic character arc that does absolutely nothing interesting. It's Morrison matching several dudes against one another, all of whom surely represent various facets of himself, and his own struggle to justify being somewhat of an egotistical asshole.
The [human] protagonist starts out closely resembling a sketch character from SNL's old "Goth Talk" series - a caricature of dark, brooding, emo types intentionally moving into a haunted house. But as soon as the Max Nomax - a character he's supposedly invented for his next screenplay - comes into his life, he becomes a scared, useless muggle. What happened to his edgy life pattern of dealings with the devilish?! Bah, it's all for the sake of some dynamic character arc that does absolutely nothing interesting. It's Morrison matching several dudes against one another, all of whom surely represent various facets of himself, and his own struggle to justify being somewhat of an egotistical asshole.
cassie_grace's review against another edition
2.0
Long on style, short on substance, with generally unlikeable characters. There was some promise with the haunted house in space concept and the Thing-like Oorga, but it sort of petered out.
john_huppenthal's review against another edition
4.0
I either loved or hated this and either understood it or don't have a fucking clue what it was about. Grant Morrison's stories do that to me I guess.
aroldo's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
robin_dh's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
art_cart_ron's review against another edition
3.0
Unpolished. Frazer Irving isn't a very good narrative artist. Often felt like an unpolished film proposal. When long character bios are included at the end of your book with the apparent function of telling the story that didn't come across within the book itself... it's a red flag. Otherwise - there are some fun elements and twists, some great static illustrations (among a lot of bad ones, and barely a background in sight - even for establishing shots), and an 80's feel (that I'm not sure was intentional). I'm a big GM fan, and I'm not mad that I bought a used copy... but I doubt anyone will list this as among his better work.
zachb's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
dosymedia's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
squidbag's review
4.0
Occasionally, Grant Morrison takes a break from spouting pseudo-philosophical mindlessness and writes really entertaining mindfuckery comics that your brain might actually like to have sex with. This is one of those, expertly rendered by Fraser Irving, and it takes place in a universe that - well, I won't spoil it for you, only tell you that all of the characters in this speak Morrison Madness and it's great. Good story, fun timing, beautiful art.
nigellicus's review
5.0
Ray Spass is a Hollywood scriptwriter who has squandered his earnings on the things Hollywood wunderkind usually squander their earnings on. He is a horrible person and he is trying to write a script about a haunted house in space. He buys a haunted house and holds a squalid black mass to summon the devil, and learns that he is dying. Then the mephistophlean main character from his screenplay turns up and asks him to write his story for him.
Max Nomax is a fugitive from a prison hovering on the event horizon of a massive black hole. The prison is haunted by the results of some dreadful experiment gone horribly wrong. How did Max escape to Earth? Ray has to write the story to find out, and hopefully stop the avenging space angel from recapturing Max and destroying the universe.
Look, yes, just the ploy alone is bonkers, but reading it, every panel is crammed with the bonkers, this s bonkers on a fractal level. It's also hilarious as Ray and Max are too dreadful, narcissistic, self-absorbed personalities playing off each other, and horrifying, as Max's space prison is basically hell. Completely, brilliantly bananas.
Max Nomax is a fugitive from a prison hovering on the event horizon of a massive black hole. The prison is haunted by the results of some dreadful experiment gone horribly wrong. How did Max escape to Earth? Ray has to write the story to find out, and hopefully stop the avenging space angel from recapturing Max and destroying the universe.
Look, yes, just the ploy alone is bonkers, but reading it, every panel is crammed with the bonkers, this s bonkers on a fractal level. It's also hilarious as Ray and Max are too dreadful, narcissistic, self-absorbed personalities playing off each other, and horrifying, as Max's space prison is basically hell. Completely, brilliantly bananas.
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