Review: Titan The Ultra Man #2
This book from Advent Comics is a bit of a throwback, maybe even a touch old school. How old school? Well that depends on you, the reader. For me, books that are just one fight scene after another, with mysterious secret nefarious organisations focused on a hero with family problems, potentially may be trying just a little too hard.
It seems that Titan has some issues. This is all regaled in a number of pages that regurgitates elements of the last issue. This of course, has a couple of impacts; firstly it disrupts the flow of the story in issue two and secondly, by covering old ground, you are actually getting fewer pages for your buck. This is somewhat hazardous for a book that is trying to make its way in the superhero world, that is already crammed packed full of instantly recognisable characters.
Writer Tony Kittrell writes in a way that is reminiscent of some of the old Marvel books, rather than letting the reader join their own dots, the history of Titan’s story is given to us in scenery chewing lumps.  Whilst this is not the  easiest route to take, Kittrell uses it to give his character the idea of longevity or history, rather than being just another book.
Pow Rodrix is the artist on hand to chronicle the dynamic adventures of Titan. To whit, Rodrix does a solid job for the most part, detailing the action scenes with an above average eye for camera angles. This helps to generate a level of pace, that the dialogue heavy pages threaten to dampen, although I could certainly do without the four panel talking head newscaster, But hey, we have to get the news from somewhere, right? Rodrix pencils have strong lines throughout, even if the overall style lacks a certain panache. Colors are provided by Brian Valeza who give the book a four-color vibe that lacks any real level of subtlety.
With the high quality of some of the indie superhero books that are currently on both the actual and digital racks, Advent have a spot of catching up to do. Their tagline of “putting the soul back into comics” is an impressive ideal and one which detractors of the current event led books of the Big Two and a number of their competitors. As a starting point, Titan is not a bad first step.
Writing – 3 Stars
Art – 3 Stars
Colors – 2 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Tony Kittrell
Art by; Pow Rodrix
Colors by; Brian Valeza
Published by; Advent Comics
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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