 |
| Trevor reviews The Season of the Snake #1 |
This review must be begun with the disclaimer that this book is not for the kiddies; it has sex and nudity, so you’ve been warned. Secondly this book is not for those of us that thrive on fast moving plots, vibrant colors or characters you become invested in. My initial first impression when reading was that this could be an amazing new title; it has that '80s and '90s French art design vibe to it: detailed, yet slightly messy pencil work and a creative watercolor palette that resides primarily in the blues, grays, and browns. Unfortunately, when you start reading, you quickly realize that it either suffers from horrible translation that doesn’t convey the emotion and characters well, or it was just written about the most uninteresting characters that have been encountered in a very long time.
I will say that about half way through the book, maybe a touch more, the world does open up a bit and the color palette becomes more similar to the styles of Keith Giffen Trencher as opposed to a washed out Renoir, which creates a startling contrast between the two sides of the story. Without giving it away, the plot is convoluted, a tad confusing and uses several tropes that we are all used to and feel strangely comfortable. All of this sadly creates a very difficult to read, slow as molasses plot. A world that, while visually appealing at times, within it the artistry isn’t enough to carry the whole of its parts.
Unfortunately, because of this, it took me 3 days to finish a comic that was only slightly above average length. I’m not a slow reader by any means, but every bit of reading this felt like a chore. The bland color choices did nothing to speed up this process, and by keeping most objects in the foreground and background within the same color schemes, it makes it an effort to find details in the art. Sloppy line-work makes even those details that you can find difficult to determine what they are.
Overall, this story is the comic equivalent to the Swamp of Sadness from The NeverEnding Story, and I, the lucky reviewer, was lucky enough to be Artax, the ill fated horse. It was muddy, hard to swallow, combining an art style better suited to story boards for a Luc Besson film and a story-line better suited to a secondary piece in Heavy Metal Magazine. In the end I’d have to say that this book was the biggest hard pass I can possibly muster.
-Trevor West