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As we left the San Diego Comic 'Con that Saturday, I could smell trouble;
my Evil Stepmother (read, the Editor) was going to give me a review.
She handed me a comic with the title "Gothic Justice" put out by
Insomniax Comix. She said, "I saw this and thought of you," making
light of the fact that most people consider me goth, even though I do not
believe myself to be so. Also, having not done a formal comic book
review for the CT, I didn't quite know how to go about doing said review.
So I said, "Oh, bugger all!", read it and now here I am plowing away in
front of the computer.
"Gothic Justice" is your standard story about a vigliante crime-fighter
named "Justice" who happens upon a group of vampires, one of whom is
named "Gothic" and starts trying to hunt them down. That's about it for
the plot.
Now, being semi-demi-quasi-goth myself (okay, well . . . I listen to
Switchblade Symphony and Joy Division, in any case), I have to wonder
if these guys actually know what they're talking about or what direction
they want the characters to take.
- Why do vampires always have to fall for the cross-and-holy-water
trick? Look at "'Salem's Lot" by Stephen King---I find it scarier if the
typical weapons DON'T work, then the characters have to be more
ingenius in their vampire-hunting.
- Naming a vampire who obviously looks goth "Gothic" is like naming
your daughter "Girl." Ditto for naming a cop "Justice." Gimme a fraggin'
break!
- For three, the artwork looks as if it's amateurly done. There IS a
definitive artwork style in this book, but it doesn't work with the plot or
the characters the writers are trying to create.
There is an interesting plot point in this book, however. The ending is
okay, tho' I still don't understand why a fight scene that, in real life,
would take 3 minutes, takes 13 pages to tell. It's like trying to eat quick-
drying cement---it starts of a little chunky, but ends up getting caught in
your esophagus before it even gets to your stomach. Essentially, it
makes you want to retch.
The characters are generic, the art is generic, and the plotline is (for the
most part) generic. Anybody who's even remotely semi-demi-quasi-goth
like myself will avoid this book like the plague. Or a wooden stake, for
that matter.
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