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A review by hobbes199
Bodies by Si Spencer, Tula Lotay, Phil Winslade
2.0
For the full review please visit If These Books Could Talk
Set across four time periods, four different detectives have a seemingly identical crime to solve, all in the same area of East London. The body of a man has appeared in the street, tortured, an eye removed, with sinister markings carved into his wrist. It’s up to the separate detectives to find the perpetrator, slowly unravelling the mystery, while at the same time dealing with the social issues of the time and area they live in.
If you were to go simply by it’s premise, then ‘Bodies‘ should be a critical success; a stand-alone series that combines secret sects, violence, plenty of illicit sex, with a reality bending crime to solve should be one that gets people’s interest. It certainly got mine. Unfortunately, it didn’t hold it for long, and it’s clear from the start where the problem lies – it’s simply too ambitious for such a short series. The plot is pretty basic – four eras, four cops, same crime – but the surrounding storyline for each of the characters is so convoluted that you either lose track or cease to care. It’s almost impossible to empathise or connect with any of the characters as there’s no subtlety to their arcs.
I can genuinely see what Spencer was aiming for, and it’s very much the Alan Moore school of storytelling. But when Moore did it with the likes of the fabulous ‘From Hell’, it was over a far greater amount of issues (and seven years), allowing him to develop both the characters and the story to such a level of depth and detail, that 26 years later it’s still held in such high regard. You simply cannot replicate that in eight issues and less than 200 pages of story.
As far as the art goes, it’s a pretty similar story. Each era is illustrated by a different artist, which in itself is a great concept, giving continuity to the characters, but each artist suffers the same fate as the story. So much has to be crammed in to each issue, that often panels are messy and confusing, with little delineation between objects and people. Don’t try to work out what characters are waving at each other, because you won’t. That mystical object that people are trying to stop? Nope. No idea. Even worse is when a character’s motif is extremely obvious throughout their arc, but then disappears during the denouement, meaning that you miss them completely.
If you like your comics to take the ‘sledgehammer’ route to plotting and characterisation, then ‘Bodies‘ will suit you fine. If you’re after something innovative and thought provoking, that doesn’t leave you wanting that last hour back, then look somewhere else.
Set across four time periods, four different detectives have a seemingly identical crime to solve, all in the same area of East London. The body of a man has appeared in the street, tortured, an eye removed, with sinister markings carved into his wrist. It’s up to the separate detectives to find the perpetrator, slowly unravelling the mystery, while at the same time dealing with the social issues of the time and area they live in.
If you were to go simply by it’s premise, then ‘Bodies‘ should be a critical success; a stand-alone series that combines secret sects, violence, plenty of illicit sex, with a reality bending crime to solve should be one that gets people’s interest. It certainly got mine. Unfortunately, it didn’t hold it for long, and it’s clear from the start where the problem lies – it’s simply too ambitious for such a short series. The plot is pretty basic – four eras, four cops, same crime – but the surrounding storyline for each of the characters is so convoluted that you either lose track or cease to care. It’s almost impossible to empathise or connect with any of the characters as there’s no subtlety to their arcs.
I can genuinely see what Spencer was aiming for, and it’s very much the Alan Moore school of storytelling. But when Moore did it with the likes of the fabulous ‘From Hell’, it was over a far greater amount of issues (and seven years), allowing him to develop both the characters and the story to such a level of depth and detail, that 26 years later it’s still held in such high regard. You simply cannot replicate that in eight issues and less than 200 pages of story.
As far as the art goes, it’s a pretty similar story. Each era is illustrated by a different artist, which in itself is a great concept, giving continuity to the characters, but each artist suffers the same fate as the story. So much has to be crammed in to each issue, that often panels are messy and confusing, with little delineation between objects and people. Don’t try to work out what characters are waving at each other, because you won’t. That mystical object that people are trying to stop? Nope. No idea. Even worse is when a character’s motif is extremely obvious throughout their arc, but then disappears during the denouement, meaning that you miss them completely.
If you like your comics to take the ‘sledgehammer’ route to plotting and characterisation, then ‘Bodies‘ will suit you fine. If you’re after something innovative and thought provoking, that doesn’t leave you wanting that last hour back, then look somewhere else.