REVIEW: Last Born #2

Last Born #2
Story: Patrick Meaney
Art: Eric Zawadzki
Publisher: Black Mask Studios
Release Date: October 29, 2014

If you’ve been reading my reviews over the past few months, you know that I rarely trash a book, even if it may deserve it. Not that I won’t, as evidenced by this review and this one; it’s just that I tend to see the value in the work regardless of the technical or aesthetic prowess of said work’s creators. That said, Last Born is really trying my benevolence.

The concept, that there are periodic “Big Bangs”“ that result in any number of realities and worlds is pretty cool. Even the time-hopping elements in the book aren’t bad and time travel is one of those things that if not done well can really ruin the audience’s experience. No, there’s nothing wrong with the premise of this book at all; it’s in the execution that things come up a bit short.

I was thoroughly confused as to what was going on in this book after reading the first issue, but thought I’d give things a chance to unfold a bit more and cracked open the second issue. Well, that really didn’t help things much as the story just seems to be spinning further and further out into incomprehensibility. A large part of that stems from the lack of narrative in many of the panels; the creators are expecting more from the art than what’s being delivered, in terms of continuity.

Everything’s not all bad, however, and the art in Last Born is decent. When you take into consideration the outlandishness of some of the points of conflict (a cave that leads to the end of time, for instance) the vaguely cartoonish quality of the character designs aren’t at all out of place.

Generally speaking, I’m a fan of the more esoterically focused and otherwise far-fetched sci-fi books as they tend to stretch acceptable creative limits, but I just can’t get into this book. There’s just too much flash and not enough substance. Maybe future issues will make me eat my words, but as for now, I don’t see that happening.

By: Adam Cadmon

2 Â½ /5 Stars

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Adam Cadmon

Adam Cadmon is the pen name for a man who has been writing for a few years. Heâ€™s done his share of straight-laced writing, college press, blogging, some other not very glamorous technical writing to keep the bills paid. Itadakimasu.