REVIEW: Letter 44 #18

Publisher:Â ONI PRESS INC.

(W) Charles Soule (A/CA) Alberto Alburquerque

It’s a shame I can’t get away with just saying this was wordiny, boring and confusing.

I appreciate that I’m drowning in the phlegmy remains of a cold, this is issue #18 and there’s even a recap page but you should never feel relieved when you reach the last page of a comic.

It’s overwritten by a normally great writer, Charles Soule, who saved Swamp Thing in my opinion so I really like his style but here the characters feel muted and lack definition beyond basic opposing traits. No one twiddles their thumbs or has an interesting tick. If it was a film the acting would be the same calibre as The Room.

The art. Alberto is supposed to be showing us world war 3 and I feel like I’m watching Small Soldiers…2. There’s a freeway ‘battle’ scene that looks more like a child spilt his toy tank collection. All the action and tension is sucked out of the scene by cutting back to two military types waffling about stuff I was too bored to remember.

Wish I could say ‘oh well maybe I picked up a filler issue’ but judging by the events in the story it was a pivotal point in the run, and like Rory Bremner with laryngitis it didn’t make a good impression.