Drunken Comics Rage

As DVO mentioned, I evoked the $2.99 Experiment since both of us really only had a couple of issue to buy last week. It was a little hard finding something I was mildly interested in, or at least interested enough to make DVO buy it anyway, and that would be a first or second issue. I guess it's not a big deal, but I like the idea of maybe finding something new at it's beginning. Usually if something already has ten issues under it's belt, you know if it's good or not.

You may also have read that DVO was complaining that my pick was bad, and that his issue cost him $3.50. There's two things I'd like to say to that. First, is that it's an experiment, so you'll have that sometimes. Second, the issue he handed me cost $3.99, which means Bitch owes ME $0.50, and not the other way around.

Ok, on to the issue.

Sub-Mariner #1

The first thing about this one is that I wasn't all that high on the art. It has it's own style in that it's much more photo realistic art, but oddly, everything is very washed out looking. Like the whole issue was laid out in the sun way to long, and everything just faded. It's not that's it horrible, or really even bad, it's just not my thing. Now, once you get past the art, it's written pretty well, there's a few good hooks, but this first issue is a complete set up. It's also totally a stand alone sort of thing.

The story is set in the past, and if I had to guess a time period, it'd be sometime shortly after WWII. Which is why I say it's a stand alone, in that Sub-Mariner (or Namor) ran around in WWII with Captain America and the gang, yet in this story, no ones seen him. In fact, Sub-Mariner is sort of the boogy man of the sea, kind of like Bigfoot. I say it's after WWII though, since the men in the book seem worried about "the commies" or "reds" finding Atlantis before them. Though I could be totally wrong about that. Which brings us to the premise of the story.

The basic idea is that the Sub-Mariner and Atlantis are looked at as myths. Much like Bigfoot, the Lochness Monster, or the Chupacabra. There's a man who looks to be the main character, Dr. Stein, who is a professional debunker. He doesn't believe in Namor or Atlantis. Well, right at the beginning, a man that was searching for Atlantis finds something, and then you learn he disappeared. Some men want to hire Stein to follow in the other guys footsteps, and either prove or disprove the Atlantis and Sub-Mariner legend. So Stein sets off about his task.

It was well written, and I might flip through the next issue to see where it goes. After a bit, the art bothered me a lot less, but again, that's just me. It is a little hard to drop $4 an issue on something where the art bothers me, and it's sort of a monster hunt story. It was written pretty well though idea wise, really playing up the fact that the sailors on the submarine Stein sets out on beleive in the Namor myth, and about him protecting Atlantis by sinking ships and so on. Since this was the whole set up portion of the series, if the story is good in the next issue, I might buy it, but it's iffy.

Rating: 3 stars

If you like the art ok, and want something semi-super hero-ish, then it might be a good buy. If you're not really looking for this type of story though, I'd probably skip it. Or maybe wait to see how it turns out, and if it works out to be pretty good, maybe pick it up in trade paperback.

Filed under: Ghostshark's Rants, The $2.99 Experiment