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A review by unladylike
Thanos, Volume 1: Thanos Returns by
3.0
2 stars for #1-4; 4 stars for #5-6
After just reading several good Thanos books, I was excited to see what Jeff Lemire was doing with him in the present day. I really like a lot of Lemire's ideas and script styles, so it was very disappointing to see so many glaring mistakes throughout much of this book. Things like inconsistencies with tense and number that frustrate the copy editor in me but might not bother someone just looking for a popcorn-munching comic adventure in a voice reminiscent of Silver Age Marvel comics.
Comparing the content and flow of the word captions/bubbles vs. the art and panels on the page, this Thanos story suffers most from a disconnect that I blame on the infamous Marvel Style of making comics. It's like Lemire wrote out a plot outline that was sound, the artist sent back a great visual story, and then Lemire filled in the word bubbles with his left hand while reading and working on something entirely different with his right. Like he wasn't actually reading the comic he was writing because it felt like he didn't have to try hard or focus at that point?
Whatever the troubles with the writing that grated on my senses and made me toss this book aside several times, they somehow saved it at the end. The story progresses and wraps up very well, with good action and simultaneous threads of various subplots coming to a head, showing us dynamic arcs for characters that were previously all but unknown. So that's impressive, and compels me to bump up the rating on this to an overall 3.
After just reading several good Thanos books, I was excited to see what Jeff Lemire was doing with him in the present day. I really like a lot of Lemire's ideas and script styles, so it was very disappointing to see so many glaring mistakes throughout much of this book. Things like inconsistencies with tense and number that frustrate the copy editor in me but might not bother someone just looking for a popcorn-munching comic adventure in a voice reminiscent of Silver Age Marvel comics.
Comparing the content and flow of the word captions/bubbles vs. the art and panels on the page, this Thanos story suffers most from a disconnect that I blame on the infamous Marvel Style of making comics. It's like Lemire wrote out a plot outline that was sound, the artist sent back a great visual story, and then Lemire filled in the word bubbles with his left hand while reading and working on something entirely different with his right. Like he wasn't actually reading the comic he was writing because it felt like he didn't have to try hard or focus at that point?
Whatever the troubles with the writing that grated on my senses and made me toss this book aside several times, they somehow saved it at the end. The story progresses and wraps up very well, with good action and simultaneous threads of various subplots coming to a head, showing us dynamic arcs for characters that were previously all but unknown. So that's impressive, and compels me to bump up the rating on this to an overall 3.