Who Is Jake Ellis? 1
Reviewed by Martin Skidmore 13-Jan-11
This was the comic nominated for me to buy and review this week – I think it’s the first Image comic I have ever bought.
This was the comic nominated for me to buy and review this week (and I want more nominations! There’s a forum topic, or email me, or just suggest something in comments) – I think it’s the first Image comic I have ever bought. I nearly put it back when I saw that one of the pull quotes on the back was from something called Image Addiction, which doesn’t sound like a wholly disinterested source.
Oh for fuck’s sake: the first page is a close-up of a map, centring on Strasbourg; then the caption at the start of the first story page reads “Barcelona, Spain.” We get a three-page action scene, with the main character saying things that make no sense; then the same scene again, but with some ghostly figure whispering instructions to him, which means his words now make some sense – except for the line that is omitted from the replay. A cute idea, but leaving a line out means it seems like a fuck-up or cheat to me. (We do go to Strasbourg after this, but the map still looks like a wasted page.) (To be fair, 24 actual story pages for $3 is better value than the big two, and it’s on heavier stock.)
The rest is more of the same: our hero pursued and attacked, getting away because of advance warnings and guidance from the spectre (he’s not the Spectre, though he does actually remind me of the Phantom Stranger in one or two panels). I don’t know if the hero, some sort of spy or international thief it seems, or the ghost is Jake Ellis, and I’m not sure why I should care, hints of huge fallibility, even stupidity, on the part of the ghost notwithstanding. The writing is generally pretty vacuous, though I suppose the opening device is good (as it was when used a couple of times in the last TV season of Buffy).
On the other hand, I really like the art: this of course overstates its quality considerably, but it reminded me of Darwyn Cooke and Alex Toth, which is a pretty great pair to resemble. His composition and drawing are both very good (though the anatomy hints at vagueness in a few places), and the colouring might be even better – strong despite a very muted palette. I would question his pacing – two of the final five pages have one panel each, and neither seemed to in any way justify it, by being a spectacular scene or needing it for purposes of timing. Obviously this may be the writer’s fault, I don’t know, but an artist should question it, or come up with something far more exciting to fill the page. Hm, I wonder if it was originally planned as a 22-page story, and they were asked to stretch it? Probably not, but the first of those two splash pages could easily be removed with no effect on the story at all.
I’m not interested enough in the story to stay with this, but I would rather like to see more of Zonjic, a new name to me.
Tags: Image, Nathan Edmondson, Tonci Zonjic
Not sure what sort of literary expression “Oh, for Fuck’s Sake,” is, nor am I sure how much credibility this reviewer gains by using “fuck” twice in his review (really? could he think of no other words?)
But otherwise–what a (to use your word) dumb fucking review. The reviewer has nitpicked the book so much he’s completely missed the point of the story on several accounts, and he begins paragraphs with phrases like “On the other hand.” Wait, and what is this? He did! He admits to actually judging a book by its cover–and not just the cover, but a cover quote source. Comma splices abound (I had to re-read “I don’t know if the hero…” line four times to understand it, but at least, like every great Pulitzer-prize winning essayist, he utilizes a non-word “hm” rather effectively.
My question is, and due to the reviewer’s passive voice entrance into this review, I don’t know from reading the comic, who in the world would “nominate” this guy to review anything?
Uuuhh…. First Image Comic you ever bought?
You saying that made me feel exactly how you felt when you read the quote from Image Addictions.
Great another Marvel/DC Zombie is gonna bash another Image book….
Um, I didn’t say it was the first comic from someone other than Marvel/DC! My line doesn’t remotely imply that, and it isn’t remotely the case.
Hi Martin,
Sorry you didn’t “get” the book. It has an original premise with an engaging and likeable rogue as the protagonist(his name is Jon-Maybe you were reading it too fast).
you have unanswered questions as to the veracity of a “ghost” at the heart of the story… and you wonder why people are out to get this guy.
Espionage=good
Touch of Supernatural=good
Action and firefights=good
Your review = not kind enough
“This was the comic nominated” means the comic was nominated for me to review, not that I was nominated.
The first Image comic you’ve ever bought? That is sad. I suppose you’v espent all your money on the 30 Batman Inc titles or whatever color Lantern is raising hell this week crossover story that’s out. Maybe a major Marvel character is dying…or it that next week?
I’ll have to respectfully disagree with you on the story. Considering all the trite that the big two offer up nowadays (and it is A LOT), this was a breath of frech air to me. I will be with this one to the end. We do agree about Tonci’s artwork, though. It was great. Also, any first issue that isn’t just build-up or set-up is a welcome change to me.
That’s the second Image fan today who apparently thinks that Marvel and DC are the only other publishers out there. If we are just considering the generally lousy standard of writing at Marvel/DC as our benchmark, yes, I was too harsh on this, as it is less dumb and indeed trite than the large majority of their output – but surely we can apply higher standards than that?
Interesting review. Personally I think the story idea sounds pretty good, and I love the art style.
Image Addiction is a podcast done by some fans of Image books. But during the podcast, they will not only praise an Image book, but also bash a book if it doesn’t live up to standards. So it’s not like they only say good things. Maybe you should listen before you judge the guys.
Couple of questions though since I am confused by some of your statements. You spend the entire second paragraph complaining about the opening…but then say the opening device was good. Was it good or not good?
The second question if about your review of the art. Did you like it or not? You said you did, then question the quality of it, and the pacing of the art.
Not questioning your opinion of the book, just asking for some clarification of your contradictions.
Thanks.
Thanks for the info on Image Addiction – but the fact that they are sufficiently enthusiastic Image fans to do that does mean that they are at least a bit biased.
I thought the opening was a nice enough idea, but I did feel it was weakened by the second version leaving out one of the hero’s lines – i.e. a good device, but I thought the handling wasn’t quite right.
I do like the art – the only comment about quality is saying it’s not as good as Toth or Cooke, which is not really questioning the quality, since I think Toth may be comics’ greatest ever artist, and Cooke is perhaps the best to have come along in 20 years or so. I do think he gets the pacing wrong in a couple of places – it’s perfectly possible to like the art and still think there are improvements to be had.
Thanks for the response. I can see your point about Image Addiction.
Also thanks for clarifying your comments in the review.
I can see liking the art, but not the flow of the story. And the opening sequence and how it was used.
I may not agree with you, but at least now I can see where you’re coming from in this case.
Quotes aren’t necessarily supposed to be unbiased. They’re just for effect and hype. Image Addiction, however, criticizes Image titles as often as not, and if they endorse a book I’m often more inclined to read it, because many that they don’t endorse I find I don’t like.
Fair enough, but I still think if this FA site had a quote that said “A fantastic site! – FA Fanatics”, you might suspect that this was not the most unbiased of sources.
BTW, for those assuming we are anti-Image here, note that there are other Image reviews (click on the Image tag at the foot of the review) – two of them positive, one MUCH worse than the above.