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A review by thekarpuk
Satellite Sam, Vol. 1: The Lonesome Death of Satellite Sam by Howard Chaykin, Matt Fraction
2.0
I've become a Matt Fraction fan over the past few years. His stories often have a massive ambition, but manage to stay grounded through solid characterization and snappy dialogue. On this book, however, I run into a problem.
The art style gives me a damn headache.
I do have a bit of a bias. My preferred comic book style runs closer to Sixth Gun, Saga, Invincible, or pretty much anything with clean, simplified lines. I like clarity in visual storytelling.
The old-school design of Satellite Sam has a constant busy quality, with overly tight panels, compositions, and line work that without color gives the impression of a sea of detail. The word bubble design doesn't help either, looking like their placement was more of an afterthought than a decision.
And oddly, the story doesn't seem to work in the aspects its aiming for. Seeing the world of early television from a insider perspective is compelling, but equal time is given to the sometimes lurid sex lives of the main characters, which I often found boring and lacking in the sort of characterization it was supposed to provide. The son of the dead actor, as an example, seems like he should be a window into this world, but he's mostly just a whiny drunk doing mediocre detective work for purposes that seem unrelatable.
It's a disappointment, but I can console myself in the fact that Fraction always seems to have about 4 projects going at once, so there's probably something for anyone's tastes.
The art style gives me a damn headache.
I do have a bit of a bias. My preferred comic book style runs closer to Sixth Gun, Saga, Invincible, or pretty much anything with clean, simplified lines. I like clarity in visual storytelling.
The old-school design of Satellite Sam has a constant busy quality, with overly tight panels, compositions, and line work that without color gives the impression of a sea of detail. The word bubble design doesn't help either, looking like their placement was more of an afterthought than a decision.
And oddly, the story doesn't seem to work in the aspects its aiming for. Seeing the world of early television from a insider perspective is compelling, but equal time is given to the sometimes lurid sex lives of the main characters, which I often found boring and lacking in the sort of characterization it was supposed to provide. The son of the dead actor, as an example, seems like he should be a window into this world, but he's mostly just a whiny drunk doing mediocre detective work for purposes that seem unrelatable.
It's a disappointment, but I can console myself in the fact that Fraction always seems to have about 4 projects going at once, so there's probably something for anyone's tastes.