Comics I Bought: November 20, 2008

I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got three new comics plus a hard cover collection:

The X-Files - 1

StormWatch: Post Human Division - 16

Ex Machina - 39

Jack Kirby's The Demon Omnibus

And now for a review of something I've read recently.

"Fell" by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith

"Fell" is the name of a detective who just got transfered to a city called "Snowtown". It's across the bridge from a big city and Snowtown is the ass end of the world. It's run down, crime ridden, and nobody seems to care.

Fell isn't there to clean up the place or anything like that. He's been exiled from the big city across the bridge for some unnamed reason and he's just killing time until he can go back. That doesn't mean he won't do his best. He's a man who likes to do a good job in a town that doesn't know the meaning of "Do a good job".

"Fell" reads like an episodic police drama because that's what it is. No big giant story where everyone and everything is interconnected just small time crazies in a small time town that's falling apart. It's as jaded and cynical police drama as I've ever read.

I'm having a hard time criticizing the art because I'm ambivalent towards it. It's not bad but there are a lot of things I don't like about it. I also understand that there is not a lot of money to be made in many of these Image comics and it is a lot of work to draw one. Templesmith is really trying to make things interesting and it shows. Except I didn't find the art very interesting. But maybe that's just my taste. Either way I did appreciate his effort to make the most he could with the time and money involved. Comics are hard work and sometimes I can appreciate the effort even if I don't like the results.

All in all "Fell" is a dark episodic police drama. I found it a little too over the top cynical but it was generally well done. If that's what you are in the mood for then check this book out.