Dead Space #1

[metal_hellsp]

I finally got my copy of DS #1 yesterday. Wrote a review of it, what did you all think of it? Did anyone get a copy?



Dead Space #1
Writer: Antony Johnston
Art: Ben Templesmith

Opening comments: The comics market is ripe for business, and other company properties are no difference. While Marvel has Halo: Uprising along with the Darktower series. Image has jumped on the bandwagon with a prequel comic to prequel the upcoming Dead Space video game coming in October. While Halo: Uprising has fallen into an abyss of boredom and unease, does Dead Space beat the competition?

Story comments: I love horror comics, but licensed properties never seem to mix well with comics. While the Dark Tower comic is great, it’s one of the few real exceptions. Dead Space opens with the too commonly used video of a man telling any random person to get the signal to nuke the area he is in. From there we see 5 weeks prior to this and just how all the chaos began.
At first I was under whelmed at how “been there done that” it all felt to me. Luckily a saving grace came in the fact that there actually is a point of interest here. When we hear of some religion called Unitology, being the source of the first real conflict, I start getting interested. The religion itself seems to be a bit of a joke at Scientology, which…lets face it, comes off as a bit of a joke.
Strange is it sounds, I’m engrossed by the story and curious to see how it all plays out, despite the now obvious ending. Johnston has done a fairly good job of keeping my interest and was able to make me want to see how this nightmare plays out. Yet at the same time…I couldn’t read this issue in one sitting. I just got very bored in the middle and put it down. I forgot all about it and ended up picking it up again several hours later that night.

Art comments: Ben Templesmith has certainly made his mark on comics. With an early Image project being Hellspawn, he left Image to work on 30 days of night. Undoubtedly he will forever be remembered for his work on 30 days, but he has done a very good job on other works as well such as Fell and Wormwood Gentlemen Corpse.
If you are new to his art and aren’t familiar, you might not like what you see here. Johnston just doesn’t give Templesmith enough room to shine in this issue. While the final few pages are spectacular in how creepy they look, everything else just feels very “meh” and boring. Though that is mainly due to more dialogue driven scene more than anything.
If the cover is a notion of things we’ll soon be seeing in the book, I am still excited that Templesmith is onboard with this. He really is the only reason I’m buying this comic.

Closing comments: As much as I enjoyed Dead Space…the fact that it is a prequel to a video-game hurts it. Now, if this were a regular comic then that would be fine. Also the fact that this is taking up Templesmith’s time from Fell and Wormwood really annoys me. Johnston has done a great job of setting up the first issue and giving the series a sespensful feel. For only 6 months, I’ll stick with and read Dead Space…even if I have no plans to get the game.

Out of 5, a 3.5
Must Read

So…what did you all think of Dead Space #1?

[NTapalansky]

Haven't checked this out yet but the preview I picked up at last years SDCC seemed interesting. Looking forward to giving it a try.