REVIEW: The Precinct #4
It seems that steam punk cities have the same sort of problems as regular cities, or even a Gotham endures. Here, in the imaginatively named The Big City, corruption is in the air. For those not familiar with this book, it centers on the police force of the city called The Precinct. Within that, there are the usual types, the well-meaning but gruff boss and the loose cannon, treat everyone with disrespect officer who get results.  Keeping the trope alive there is a council of sorts and an Academy, where Winters is an acolyte. The main antagonist of the book are huge machines who are currently spreading death and destruction across the land. But who is in control of the mechanical beasts?
Frank J. Barbiere is the writer of this penultimate issue of The Precinct. As such, it may be a tad late for me to comment, but I 
have to say, there seems a lot going on. Putting the story aside, the dialogue reads like cliché on top of cliché, with situations seemingly following an obvious path. This, for me is a disappointment as I am really enjoying Barbiere’s work on Dejah Thoris, where he has turned the bikini clad Martian into bonafide strong female character.
As pretty standard the writing is, the art is somewhere below there. Crizam Cristhian Zamora provides the pencils and the inks. Fans of Dynamite comics may have seen Zamora’s work in the Black Sparrow and Lady Zorro Swords of Sorrow issue or maybe even on Vampirella way back in 2014. Here it seems that Zamora’s work goes through phases when it comes to a couple of characters. Early on, the style in which Winters is drawn suggest that Zamora had a reference for her. As the book continues and inters find herself in trouble, that style reverts to quite a wooden style. This rather staid style also detracts from some of the action scenes, causing the eye to wander. Dinei Ribeiro provides the color, which are functional throughout the book.
I like that Dynamite are trying different books, rather than resting on the laurels of Dejah, Sonja and the latest Vampirella series’. I just wish they were better at it!
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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