Hi everybody! Since this blog is all about less mainstream, uber-cool comics, I just had to include this one. Andi Watson is a comic legend. He's won the Eisner award numerous times and, frankly, is an awesome artist. His brush style influences my own comic work, and his penmanship is second to none. Love Fights is just one of his many creations - this one is a romantic comedy slash superhero story. This article contains a synopsis so don't read this if you want to find out for yourself. Synopsis: In New York, the ground shakes, tremors running throughout the city. A flying figure is seen zooming between the skyscrapers.
Meanwhile, Jack (the main character) is underground, in the subway train. A girl nearby drops her phone, which he picks up and hands back to her. Suddenly the train stops, and an announcement apologizes for the delay, due to "superhero activity in the area". The girl tries to call someone but cannot get service. Jack gives her his cell to use. She calls her mom, lying and saying she's far away from the hero battle. Jack enquires about this, she says that her mom worries about her whenever there's superheroes on TV. A sudden explosion shakes the tunnel. The girl whips out a camera, hoping for a sighting of the heroes, but Jack tells her there's no chance. The train resumes transit. At the next stop, the girl farewells Jack and gets off. Jack tries a pickup line, but she's already gone. he curses.
Later, Jack walks down the street, stopping at a shop window with online TVs. From the news it is revealed that supervillain The Tunneler was to blame for the tremors, planning to sink NY to the Earth's core. The Flamer, the hero who defeated him, was unavailable for comment due to an undisclosed scandal. Jack meets his manager JJ at the Brit Stop. JJ gives Jack a paycheck and notes for the next Flamer comic book, saying to make Flamer look more heroic and remve all references to babies.
Later still, Jack is with his friend Russ, putting up missing signs for Jack's cat Guthrie. When they're finished, they walk past a dark ally where a cat inside a cage is meowing. A shadowy figure picks the cage up and says, "Hello Guthrie." Guthrie hisses at the shadowy figure.
Back at Jack's flat, he converses with the others of the Flamer comic team. He gives writer Sue the Flamer notes, which she shows aversion to. Her husband and inker Russ overhears her mention Jack's girl (the one on the subway), and launches into a great tirade about Jack being hopeless at getting girls, referring to him as "The Dateless Wonder", "The Strikeout King", and calling him a Choker. Jack tries to make excuses against this, saying he can't compete against all the superheroes out there, but no-one listens.
At the offices of Expose magazine, the girl from the subway delivers a ton of California rolls to the editor. The girl, revealed to be called Nora, tries to sell the editor a story about her experience on the train with the superheroes, but is coldly beaten down by the editor.
Elsewhere, in a lab, a large ray gun of some sort is charging up, pointing at a small cage. Guthrie, inside the cage, mews as the gun reaches full power...
Nora is outside the subway, frustrated at their closing down. Jack arrives, and shows her the bus routes. They talk, and then Nora's bus arrives. As she gets on, a little devil looking uncannily like Russ whispers "Choker!" is Jack's ear. Jack tries to ask Nora to see a movie with him, but she is already gone.
The Good: I really enjoyed this issue. The art, the dialogue, story, everything - all was great for me. I have virtually no complaints for Andi Watson.
The Bad: The only bad I can see in this comic is that it ain't got a lot of action in it. Now I know that you shouldn't judge a comic by its first issue but I think that this one needs something more in it to hook readers in. We'll see if this changes as the series develops.
The Ugly: No uglies identified.
Overall, I'm rating Love Fights #1 at 8/10. This series is a great one for those of you who are tired of reading ultra-serious superhero comics from the likes of DC and Marvel. Enjoy!
Posted by Fantom at 4:53 pm, FRIDAY 31 July
I'm rating it 7/10 because action really hook me into comics
ReplyDeleteMe totally agree with you although it do depend on the genre, and this comic gets really interesting as the series develops - it goes into a section of comic plots not usually associated with this type of story. Translation, it gets really cool later on.
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