Seriously, though, this is good stuff. It is a little like candy- you like it because it's packed full of sweetness and despite the fact that there isn't a whole lot of substance- but in the end this is good stuff. Olivier Coipel is at his absolute best here. His figure work strikes a perfect balance between cartoon-y and serious, and his sense of scope is really quite impressive. I think I said this last month, but Coipel (and his colorist, Laura Martin), are really the stars here.
Bendis, too, is on the top of his game and I think it's because he lets his artists do the storytelling- Siege #2 may have the least number of words of any comic that Brian Bendis has ever written, and it just works. In fact, even when there are a lot of words, there's a certain economy to them; arguments that would have gone on for pages elsewhere end simply and easily here.
I know that many comics readers have grown tired of events like these, and believe me when I say I understand why, but think about it this way- Siege started in January and it will be over in April. We've reached the midpoint, and so far it's been pretty much non-stop action. Yes, this isn't GREAT COMICS, but it is great comics. Sometimes we forget that superheroes aren't necessarily all about doom and gloom. Sometimes it's important for us to remember that over the horizon there is a Heroic Age or (I can't believe I'm about to type this) even a Brightest Day. It makes me wonder if we actually have reached the last hurrah for superhero deconstruction- is now the time that our heroes get to be heroes again?
I certainly hope so.
No comments:
Post a Comment