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I'm slowly catching up on my backlog of reading. I especially wanted to get through these issues before I leave for Kazcon tomorrow because I'm hosting the Wee!chester panel.
Anyway, when I first heard about this comic, I was excited. TPTB said it would be about John Winchester's early days, starting right after Mary's death. I was looking forward to some family moments as John tries to get into hunting while still looking after 2 small boys. I was hoping for some creative parenting: Sam asleep in a baby carrier at John's feet and Dean looking at picture books while John does research in the library, diaper changes on the hood of the Impala, the boys sleeping in a nest of blankets and pillows in the back seat while John conducts a cemetery stakeout, and that sort of thing. What I got was something else.
The comic does indeed pick up just after Mary's death, but John spends most of his time unloading his kids on friends, relatives, and strangers so they don't get in his way. After hearing all about how the comic was going to cover John's struggle to be both a hunter and a father, this seems like a bit of a cop-out to me.
The main story so far is okay. It's holding my attention, anyway. It's just such a shame there are so many continuity errors. The writer is one of the producers of the show, and he always sounds so passionate about the project in interviews; you can tell he really loves the show, the characters, and the story. That's why it completely mystifies me how there can be so many basic errors in the books in everything from dates to character names. I've heard much of it will be corrected for the graphic novel release, but I don't understand how it was allowed to happen in the first place.
Issue #1 had a bonus story about the brothers as kids that was absolutely adorable. I wish the main story was that good.
Although the continuity flaws are a bit off-putting, I'm a long time comic reader, so I've kind of gotten used to it (you need a scanning electron microscope to find continuity in X-Men). What I'm having more trouble forgiving is the art. Comics are a graphic medium, so the art should be at least as important as the story. The art in this series leaves me cold. The artist can't draw children. Baby Sammy looks like a 40-year-old thug in a onesie, while 4-year-old Dean looks like he's 12. The character designs are pretty generic. Everybody looks the same. I don't expect great and original character designs for background characters, but I don't think it's too much to ask that I should be able to pick out the main character from a group.
The coloring doesn't help. Everything looks like it was given a color wash in Photoshop. Whole panels (sometimes pages) are tan or burnt orange or fuschia or turquoise or bile green. In one panel, there was a guy with blue hair in a blue coat talking to a guy with green skin and green hair, while a guy with burnt orange skin and orange hair sipped beer in the foreground. Why? What's the point of the color scheme? It only makes it harder to pick out the main character because his clothes and hair are changing color from panel to panel and his face isn't drawn distinctly enough to make him stand out without a wardrobe cue.
The characterization is inconsistent as well. In issue #1, John panics when he thinks something is after the kids and berates himself for leaving them alone with a stranger (she wasn't even a stranger, she was a family friend!), then in the very next issue, he pays a motel manager he's never even seen before $50 to watch his kids for the evening.
I've never been a huge John Winchester supporter, but I think his actions at the end of issue #2 were way out of character. Putting his late wife's critically injured uncle in a station wagon and pushing it into the water to dispose of the body while the guy was still alive was a little harsh. I know the uncle wouldn't have survived his injuries, but disposing of his body before he was dead, essentially drowning an already critically injured man, was just plain cold.
On a more personal note, issue #3 had a scene that took place in Elgin, IL. I used to live in Elgin (from age 13-17). I graduated from high school in Elgin. I met my best friend in Elgin. My best friend's parents still live in Elgin. I just thought that was cool.
Overall, I'm willing to stick around for the characters and the stories, but I hope they get a better fact checker/proofreader to catch the continuity flaws and I hope they get a new artist and/or colorist. Soon.
Anyway, when I first heard about this comic, I was excited. TPTB said it would be about John Winchester's early days, starting right after Mary's death. I was looking forward to some family moments as John tries to get into hunting while still looking after 2 small boys. I was hoping for some creative parenting: Sam asleep in a baby carrier at John's feet and Dean looking at picture books while John does research in the library, diaper changes on the hood of the Impala, the boys sleeping in a nest of blankets and pillows in the back seat while John conducts a cemetery stakeout, and that sort of thing. What I got was something else.
The comic does indeed pick up just after Mary's death, but John spends most of his time unloading his kids on friends, relatives, and strangers so they don't get in his way. After hearing all about how the comic was going to cover John's struggle to be both a hunter and a father, this seems like a bit of a cop-out to me.
The main story so far is okay. It's holding my attention, anyway. It's just such a shame there are so many continuity errors. The writer is one of the producers of the show, and he always sounds so passionate about the project in interviews; you can tell he really loves the show, the characters, and the story. That's why it completely mystifies me how there can be so many basic errors in the books in everything from dates to character names. I've heard much of it will be corrected for the graphic novel release, but I don't understand how it was allowed to happen in the first place.
Issue #1 had a bonus story about the brothers as kids that was absolutely adorable. I wish the main story was that good.
Although the continuity flaws are a bit off-putting, I'm a long time comic reader, so I've kind of gotten used to it (you need a scanning electron microscope to find continuity in X-Men). What I'm having more trouble forgiving is the art. Comics are a graphic medium, so the art should be at least as important as the story. The art in this series leaves me cold. The artist can't draw children. Baby Sammy looks like a 40-year-old thug in a onesie, while 4-year-old Dean looks like he's 12. The character designs are pretty generic. Everybody looks the same. I don't expect great and original character designs for background characters, but I don't think it's too much to ask that I should be able to pick out the main character from a group.
The coloring doesn't help. Everything looks like it was given a color wash in Photoshop. Whole panels (sometimes pages) are tan or burnt orange or fuschia or turquoise or bile green. In one panel, there was a guy with blue hair in a blue coat talking to a guy with green skin and green hair, while a guy with burnt orange skin and orange hair sipped beer in the foreground. Why? What's the point of the color scheme? It only makes it harder to pick out the main character because his clothes and hair are changing color from panel to panel and his face isn't drawn distinctly enough to make him stand out without a wardrobe cue.
The characterization is inconsistent as well. In issue #1, John panics when he thinks something is after the kids and berates himself for leaving them alone with a stranger (she wasn't even a stranger, she was a family friend!), then in the very next issue, he pays a motel manager he's never even seen before $50 to watch his kids for the evening.
I've never been a huge John Winchester supporter, but I think his actions at the end of issue #2 were way out of character. Putting his late wife's critically injured uncle in a station wagon and pushing it into the water to dispose of the body while the guy was still alive was a little harsh. I know the uncle wouldn't have survived his injuries, but disposing of his body before he was dead, essentially drowning an already critically injured man, was just plain cold.
On a more personal note, issue #3 had a scene that took place in Elgin, IL. I used to live in Elgin (from age 13-17). I graduated from high school in Elgin. I met my best friend in Elgin. My best friend's parents still live in Elgin. I just thought that was cool.
Overall, I'm willing to stick around for the characters and the stories, but I hope they get a better fact checker/proofreader to catch the continuity flaws and I hope they get a new artist and/or colorist. Soon.
