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A review by jgkeely
Fear Agent, Volume 1: Re-Ignition by Rick Remender
3.0
When I first saw the cover of this book, it reminded me of the thing I like most in sci fi comics: Wallace Wood, and apparently for good reason. Series author Remender tells us in his introduction that it was his intention to evoke Wallace and the rest of the EC sci fi comics crew.
Remender wants to take back sci fi from the religious ecstasy of Star Wars or the political allegory of Trek, and return to the nuts and bolt: the strange, the adventurous, the RIPPED FROM THE PAGES OF 'INCREDIBLE SCIENCE FICTION'! Like Mieville did to Lovecraft, or Moore did to Doc Savage, or Ellis did to Doc Savage, too, or Busiek did to Conan and the Silver Age, Remender wants to recast pulp for a modern audience.
It's not really that novel of an idea just now, but it's certainly not a bad idea. Remender does have the panache to get the ball rolling, but lacks the fine hand of his contemporaries, often leaving his exposition stilted, redundant, and overly-specific. He also brings a mad, gonzo flair to the whole thing that really negates the purity of his pulp homage.
But again, it's not the worst thing. After all, Mieville and Ellis hardly keep their homages uncluttered. I'm excited to see where the story goes; Remender is fearless, which is always great in a writer as long as he isn't incompetent (I'm looking at you, Millar). Remender also seems to be capable of reigning in his madcap antics when they might interfere with the story, so he's got one up on Morrison, too.
If I'm still waiting for the author to prove himself, the same can't be said of the artist. I still remember my disappointment upon opening The Walking Dead, issue seven, to see that Tony Moore had been replaced with the workmanlike Adlard. Not coincidentally, my interest in that book soon waned, so I decided to follow Tony wherever he might go.
Which lead me here, to Fear Agent. Moore is exemplary as always, and I appreciate the way he plays with Wood's classic designs and sci fi tropes. Wallace Wood was either one of the best inkers ever, or one of the worst, depending on your definition. No matter which artist had drawn a book, once Wood touched brush to paper, it was all His.
Some say he obliterated the original artwork, others that he transformed it, unearthed it, renewed it, elevated it, annihilated then resurrected it in a new body, with a new soul, forever opening its eschatological third eye, the eye that has seen death, and hence, becomes Death. Well, they probably didn't say that, but I will.
You might imagine my disappointment when, in Fear Agent, something like the opposite of this occurred. Moore's art, which in The Walking dead was so dead-on, so evocative, even accompanied by only a slight gray wash, felt muddled, reduced, and to some degree, lost beneath the ink and color in Fear Agent.
It's not that the inker or colorist are unskilled butchers, it's a much more precise and common problem than that: they don't seem to be able to bring out Moore's idiomatic sense of gesture and depth in a thickly-inked, full color book. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great panels, but there are also some pretty rudimentary errors and bits of inelegance that I'm sad to see.
Now, maybe I'm wrong, maybe Moore's just overworked and isn't lavishing every panel with the same love that first drew me into the world of The Walking Dead--before it became a redundant, grimdark melodrama--but I sorta doubt it.
Perhaps the ink and color team could have taken some more looks at Wally and EC, who made a mark for themselves with crisp, expressive inking, not letting it become overpowered by lavish color. Then again, to sell a book these days, it helps to smack some pyrotechnics on it.
If that was their intent, then I'd suggest going to Metal Hurlant for inspiration, because Remender seems to have forgotten that some guys already reinvented the EC short-form sci fi adventures as complex, sexy, gritty, many-colored modern comics: the Franco-Belgians, and most notably, Moebius.
Then again, it might just take a few issues before the team really meshes. It's not that it's bad, it's a pretty book, it's just that I'd really like to see Moore's art shine out, as I know it's capable of doing. Here's to hoping the future of Fear Agent looks more like Wally Wood, or more like Metal Hurlant, or both. It's a strong start, and I think they could do it, which surprises me.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
Remender wants to take back sci fi from the religious ecstasy of Star Wars or the political allegory of Trek, and return to the nuts and bolt: the strange, the adventurous, the RIPPED FROM THE PAGES OF 'INCREDIBLE SCIENCE FICTION'! Like Mieville did to Lovecraft, or Moore did to Doc Savage, or Ellis did to Doc Savage, too, or Busiek did to Conan and the Silver Age, Remender wants to recast pulp for a modern audience.
It's not really that novel of an idea just now, but it's certainly not a bad idea. Remender does have the panache to get the ball rolling, but lacks the fine hand of his contemporaries, often leaving his exposition stilted, redundant, and overly-specific. He also brings a mad, gonzo flair to the whole thing that really negates the purity of his pulp homage.
But again, it's not the worst thing. After all, Mieville and Ellis hardly keep their homages uncluttered. I'm excited to see where the story goes; Remender is fearless, which is always great in a writer as long as he isn't incompetent (I'm looking at you, Millar). Remender also seems to be capable of reigning in his madcap antics when they might interfere with the story, so he's got one up on Morrison, too.
If I'm still waiting for the author to prove himself, the same can't be said of the artist. I still remember my disappointment upon opening The Walking Dead, issue seven, to see that Tony Moore had been replaced with the workmanlike Adlard. Not coincidentally, my interest in that book soon waned, so I decided to follow Tony wherever he might go.
Which lead me here, to Fear Agent. Moore is exemplary as always, and I appreciate the way he plays with Wood's classic designs and sci fi tropes. Wallace Wood was either one of the best inkers ever, or one of the worst, depending on your definition. No matter which artist had drawn a book, once Wood touched brush to paper, it was all His.
Some say he obliterated the original artwork, others that he transformed it, unearthed it, renewed it, elevated it, annihilated then resurrected it in a new body, with a new soul, forever opening its eschatological third eye, the eye that has seen death, and hence, becomes Death. Well, they probably didn't say that, but I will.
You might imagine my disappointment when, in Fear Agent, something like the opposite of this occurred. Moore's art, which in The Walking dead was so dead-on, so evocative, even accompanied by only a slight gray wash, felt muddled, reduced, and to some degree, lost beneath the ink and color in Fear Agent.
It's not that the inker or colorist are unskilled butchers, it's a much more precise and common problem than that: they don't seem to be able to bring out Moore's idiomatic sense of gesture and depth in a thickly-inked, full color book. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great panels, but there are also some pretty rudimentary errors and bits of inelegance that I'm sad to see.
Now, maybe I'm wrong, maybe Moore's just overworked and isn't lavishing every panel with the same love that first drew me into the world of The Walking Dead--before it became a redundant, grimdark melodrama--but I sorta doubt it.
Perhaps the ink and color team could have taken some more looks at Wally and EC, who made a mark for themselves with crisp, expressive inking, not letting it become overpowered by lavish color. Then again, to sell a book these days, it helps to smack some pyrotechnics on it.
If that was their intent, then I'd suggest going to Metal Hurlant for inspiration, because Remender seems to have forgotten that some guys already reinvented the EC short-form sci fi adventures as complex, sexy, gritty, many-colored modern comics: the Franco-Belgians, and most notably, Moebius.
Then again, it might just take a few issues before the team really meshes. It's not that it's bad, it's a pretty book, it's just that I'd really like to see Moore's art shine out, as I know it's capable of doing. Here's to hoping the future of Fear Agent looks more like Wally Wood, or more like Metal Hurlant, or both. It's a strong start, and I think they could do it, which surprises me.
My Suggested Reading In Comics