Supernatural Comics
May. 13th, 2012 08:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tartysuzI finally reached the end of the Brian Wood / Philip Bond Supernatural comic book series, and, sadly, I cannot recommend it.
The gory details
I was looking forward to what these two indie/Vertigo stars would bring to the Winchester legend. Neither of them have worked in TV; both are based in the UK, and chose a UK-based story. But none of these novelties contributes in a positive way to the story. The series got off to a promising start, but then there were five issues of people sitting around talking.
Two narrative decisions aggravated the situation. First, the story is narrated by Sam, who doesn't narrate on the show because the show generally eschews narration; worse, Wood fails to capture Sam's voice, alienating the reader from what is purportedly Sam's story. Second, Dean doesn't even appear in the first FOUR issues. Now, I am a bit of a Sam girl, so I'm not going to complain about a focus on Sam, but this comic is called Supernatural, so the story has to be about the brothers. When Dean does show up, he makes no real difference on the unfolding of events. Because so much is off in these comics, even the slightest non-canon details are irritating, including the omission of Dean's fear of flying and his insistence on calling Sam "bro" instead of "dude."
And the artwork! Bond does all the artwork, including some decent backgrounds of the Caledonia coast, and the inside of a trailer, where much of the action/talking takes place. However, the colours are muddy and undifferentiated in the dusk when most of the story unfolds.
SPN fans will be most annoyed by the figure drawings. The series does introduce an interesting female character named Emma, a UK hunter (known locally as a "breaker" -- I wish they had gone into UK hunter culture). She is adorably cute, yet, as drawn by Bond, believably wields weapons. However, Sam is barely recognizable. Bond's tendency to draw characters as being squat and square doesn't help, although Sam mysteriously elongates as the series continues. Bond's inability to scale character sizes also makes Emma about 6'4", which is not impossible, but obviously not intentional. And Dean, poor Dean. If you expect his likeness, look elsewhere.
On the bright side
For "elsewhere," I nominate 2010's Beginning's End, the best of the Supernatural comics. It's written by Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin; I don't think it's coincidental that Dabb wrote comics before joining the show.
Beginning's End is a good case story, and what we learn about John Winchester's vision for this children's futures is devastating. The writers say the story is in canon, so if you like your Winchester whumpage, this is the story for you.
On the technical side, Dabb and Loflin juggled several threads, just like on the best episodes of SPN, when the monster mythology, the family melodrama and the mystery at hand are all in synch. They also structured the five-issue series to approximate the five-act structure of a SPN episode. Diego Olmos delivered some great horror-comic art, including scary monsters, an excellent Sam, a well-indicated John and a decent Dean: Dean has got to be more difficult to draw because he has regular features, as the understated Victorians used to say (translation: his face is perfect).
The best thing
Consistently the best thing about the Supernatural comics are the covers, pretty much all done by Dustin Nguyen (Beginning's End also had photo covers featuring existing promotional photos, mostly from Season 4). Dustin is a big fan of the show, and his love of SPN is evident in his work.
Dustin has posted some of his Supernatural covers on DeviantArt (my favourites on this page: the spirit kissing John, Sam in the mirror and Smallchesters):
http://duss005.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=supernatural
Smaller Winchesters by Dustin Nguyen
The gory details
I was looking forward to what these two indie/Vertigo stars would bring to the Winchester legend. Neither of them have worked in TV; both are based in the UK, and chose a UK-based story. But none of these novelties contributes in a positive way to the story. The series got off to a promising start, but then there were five issues of people sitting around talking.
Two narrative decisions aggravated the situation. First, the story is narrated by Sam, who doesn't narrate on the show because the show generally eschews narration; worse, Wood fails to capture Sam's voice, alienating the reader from what is purportedly Sam's story. Second, Dean doesn't even appear in the first FOUR issues. Now, I am a bit of a Sam girl, so I'm not going to complain about a focus on Sam, but this comic is called Supernatural, so the story has to be about the brothers. When Dean does show up, he makes no real difference on the unfolding of events. Because so much is off in these comics, even the slightest non-canon details are irritating, including the omission of Dean's fear of flying and his insistence on calling Sam "bro" instead of "dude."
And the artwork! Bond does all the artwork, including some decent backgrounds of the Caledonia coast, and the inside of a trailer, where much of the action/talking takes place. However, the colours are muddy and undifferentiated in the dusk when most of the story unfolds.
SPN fans will be most annoyed by the figure drawings. The series does introduce an interesting female character named Emma, a UK hunter (known locally as a "breaker" -- I wish they had gone into UK hunter culture). She is adorably cute, yet, as drawn by Bond, believably wields weapons. However, Sam is barely recognizable. Bond's tendency to draw characters as being squat and square doesn't help, although Sam mysteriously elongates as the series continues. Bond's inability to scale character sizes also makes Emma about 6'4", which is not impossible, but obviously not intentional. And Dean, poor Dean. If you expect his likeness, look elsewhere.
On the bright side
For "elsewhere," I nominate 2010's Beginning's End, the best of the Supernatural comics. It's written by Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin; I don't think it's coincidental that Dabb wrote comics before joining the show.
Beginning's End is a good case story, and what we learn about John Winchester's vision for this children's futures is devastating. The writers say the story is in canon, so if you like your Winchester whumpage, this is the story for you.
On the technical side, Dabb and Loflin juggled several threads, just like on the best episodes of SPN, when the monster mythology, the family melodrama and the mystery at hand are all in synch. They also structured the five-issue series to approximate the five-act structure of a SPN episode. Diego Olmos delivered some great horror-comic art, including scary monsters, an excellent Sam, a well-indicated John and a decent Dean: Dean has got to be more difficult to draw because he has regular features, as the understated Victorians used to say (translation: his face is perfect).
The best thing
Consistently the best thing about the Supernatural comics are the covers, pretty much all done by Dustin Nguyen (Beginning's End also had photo covers featuring existing promotional photos, mostly from Season 4). Dustin is a big fan of the show, and his love of SPN is evident in his work.
Dustin has posted some of his Supernatural covers on DeviantArt (my favourites on this page: the spirit kissing John, Sam in the mirror and Smallchesters):
http://duss005.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=supernatural
Smaller Winchesters by Dustin Nguyen
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-16 04:22 am (UTC)They couldn't have developed a better product? I mean, really...
no subject
Date: 2012-05-16 04:39 am (UTC)I really wish Dustin had the time or DC could afford the coin to have Dustin work on the interiors. A writer who was better acquainted with horror and someone to check with show canon would also be helpful.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-16 03:39 pm (UTC)I'm not sure how the pitch went, either. SPN's strength is in the relationship between the brothers. And criminy, yeah, check with someone about canon! Fans are merciless about that stuff.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-18 05:44 am (UTC)Btw, I took a look at the SPN art you've been making. Have you tried to do a whole comic? I think it would look very good!