Scan barcode
A review by lanternatomika
Decorum by Jonathan Hickman
3.0
Look, I'm a huge Jonathan Hickman fan, and I did enjoy Decorum for the most part. It's just that this book had a few too many problems for me to give it any more than three stars.
Now, being a Hickman fan, I have to warn other comic readers to proceed with extreme caution here. Decorum isn't gonna suit anyone who liked Secret Wars or HoX/PoX and decided to check out Hickman's creator owned work. Oh no, this is one for the people who really like Hickman's commitment to world building and exploring crazy concepts in his books. This is probably the most Hickman thing he's ever written.
So, what's going on here? Well, Decorum takes place in a future where civilization has expanded beyond the Earth, and a big of chunk of it is ruled by the Singularity, an artificial intelligence with a god complex. The Singularity wants an egg that is being grown by this book's version of the Bene Gesserit - the significance of this egg isn't revealed until a lot later, which I'll get back to. Meanwhile, Neha Nori Sood is recruited into the hilariously named Sisterhood of Man, an organization of assassins. Why is that relevant to the story? That will also become clear later in the series.
The thing is, the world building undertaking that Hickman is embarking on with Decorum is on the level of East and West. But with that series, Hickman was writing across 10 trades, so he had more than enough time to set up the universe and the story within it. Decorum, on the other hand, is just eight issues long, and definitely feels constrained by that length. This becomes the most apparent in the last two issues, as Hickman essentially fast forwards through the climax of the story. That on top of the fact that he has to rush through revelations like the deal with the egg and the involvement of the Sisterhood in the main story.
It even ends in a way that might be a cliffhanger or it might not be.
Despite all this whinging, this is still Hickman. Everything one usually loves about his writing is still present and accounted for, and I do still recommend this book to folks who really wanna see him unleashed.
The other good/bad thing about this book is the art.
Mike Huddleston doesn't have an easy job on his hands here. The script asks him to illustrate some crazy stuff, and he tackles the challenge gamely enough. This is a mostly gorgeous comic - the cover says it all, doesn't it?
But then at the same time, his off kilter variations in art and color styles can get a little distracting. I appreciate that he sometimes uses colors to signal things to the reader, but then he also often changes the color scheme just for fun, which defeats the purpose. It's never a good sign, imo, when he has to include arrows to lead the reader across the comic's panels - your panel layout should be more intuitive than that!
Overall, though, I enjoyed Decorum, but I think the story needed at least an issue or two more to get the most out of it. For Hickman diehards, this book will be worth dealing with the weaknesses and the writing and art. For others, as I said, proceed with caution.
On a side note: I really feel for people who reading this book issue by issue! There's no way this story could work if you don't have the whole thing on hand.
Now, being a Hickman fan, I have to warn other comic readers to proceed with extreme caution here. Decorum isn't gonna suit anyone who liked Secret Wars or HoX/PoX and decided to check out Hickman's creator owned work. Oh no, this is one for the people who really like Hickman's commitment to world building and exploring crazy concepts in his books. This is probably the most Hickman thing he's ever written.
So, what's going on here? Well, Decorum takes place in a future where civilization has expanded beyond the Earth, and a big of chunk of it is ruled by the Singularity, an artificial intelligence with a god complex. The Singularity wants an egg that is being grown by this book's version of the Bene Gesserit - the significance of this egg isn't revealed until a lot later, which I'll get back to. Meanwhile, Neha Nori Sood is recruited into the hilariously named Sisterhood of Man, an organization of assassins. Why is that relevant to the story? That will also become clear later in the series.
The thing is, the world building undertaking that Hickman is embarking on with Decorum is on the level of East and West. But with that series, Hickman was writing across 10 trades, so he had more than enough time to set up the universe and the story within it. Decorum, on the other hand, is just eight issues long, and definitely feels constrained by that length. This becomes the most apparent in the last two issues, as Hickman essentially fast forwards through the climax of the story. That on top of the fact that he has to rush through revelations like the deal with the egg and the involvement of the Sisterhood in the main story.
It even ends in a way that might be a cliffhanger or it might not be.
Despite all this whinging, this is still Hickman. Everything one usually loves about his writing is still present and accounted for, and I do still recommend this book to folks who really wanna see him unleashed.
The other good/bad thing about this book is the art.
Mike Huddleston doesn't have an easy job on his hands here. The script asks him to illustrate some crazy stuff, and he tackles the challenge gamely enough. This is a mostly gorgeous comic - the cover says it all, doesn't it?
But then at the same time, his off kilter variations in art and color styles can get a little distracting. I appreciate that he sometimes uses colors to signal things to the reader, but then he also often changes the color scheme just for fun, which defeats the purpose. It's never a good sign, imo, when he has to include arrows to lead the reader across the comic's panels - your panel layout should be more intuitive than that!
Overall, though, I enjoyed Decorum, but I think the story needed at least an issue or two more to get the most out of it. For Hickman diehards, this book will be worth dealing with the weaknesses and the writing and art. For others, as I said, proceed with caution.
On a side note: I really feel for people who reading this book issue by issue! There's no way this story could work if you don't have the whole thing on hand.