Monday, January 18, 2010

Comic Roundup: Stumptown #2

  • Being a comic fan can be complicated. There is so much that is great about comics and so much that is awful. I want to evangelize about comics like Criminal or Blankets or Glamourpuss or Fun Home. But all most people think about comics are Blackest Night or Civil War or that Superman and Captain America died. And I can talk about them too, but there is so much more out there. That said, the hardest part comes from the comics that fall in between. Comics like Stumptown.

  • Issue two sees Dex (our private detective protagonist) continuing the hunt for the missing girl even after being shot in the first issue. She talks to a couple people, trying to get info about where the girl might be, and eventually (by the end of the issue) figures something out. My description of this comic is hampered for two reasons. First, I don't have the issue with me to reference since I'm writing from work. The second, and greater, reason is that it didn't make that much of an impression on me.

  • The story is fine. I like Greg Rucka's work and I'm sure this will grow on me. The art by Matthew Southworth and Lee Loughridge is serviceable, but it pales when compared to rich work of Sean Phillips and Val Staples on Criminal. The whole thing just lacks the wow that you find in the best books.

  • So I'm not amazed by Stumptown yet. At the same time, I would much rather live in a world where this comic exists than in one that doesn't. I like that Rucka, Southworth, and Loughridge have muscled all the superhero books to find their own place on the new comics rack. But being different is not enough for me. I want it to be great.


© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

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