(Note: this review mainly concerns Silver's solo series, Silver Sable and the Wild Pack.)
I wanted to like this book. Seriously, I did. I'm always up for seeing some ladies kick ass in my funny-books, and I've spent a good portion of my geekhood defending the '90s as a decade with tons of genuinely good, thought-provoking, or just plain entertaining comics. But boy howdy, does this book give the opposition plenty of ammo.
The scripts were competent enough at the start, but quickly devolved into a badly-paced jumble, groaning under the weight of subplot after subplot that even writer Gregory Wright didn't seem terribly interested in developing. The art has all the usual T&A, coupled with lots and lots of fight scenes that seem more interested in showing off the characters' bodies than giving the action any weight or flow.
It's not as bad as some of the other stuff Marvel was putting out in the '90s (at the very least, Liefeld's name was nowhere near it), but something's definitely wrong when a reader comes away feeling that a Bat Family Crossover with two other titles and a fill-in by a guest writer were the highlights.
The saddest part? There is potential under all the mediocrity. Silver, I'll admit, was never the most well-rounded or likable character, but the character arc Wright tried to build around her search for her old man, struggles with cold-blooded kills, and retirement could've been aces with better pacing and dialogue. Sandman was perhaps the most likable of the Wild Pack, being an ex-con who had some decent status as a villain, and it's always heartening to see those kinds of characters try to turn their lives around. The rest of the Pack is more one-note - Crippler the pain junkie, Powell the (sorta) Noble Bigot, Chen the mutilation-happy Asian girl with a Bodyguard Crush, Battlestar the token Cape - but their bicker-happy dynamic is something that a better writer could surely have turned into something more.
For all that, I'll admit that most of the comic was a Guilty Pleasure for me, and would surely have been the source of many a Drinking Game if I were that kind of geek. And what the hell - reading the final issue - along with Wright's heartfelt farewell to the fans - damn near brought a tear to my eye. Wanna fight about it?
ComicBook THE NINETIES in a cup
(Note: this review mainly concerns Silver's solo series, Silver Sable and the Wild Pack.)
I wanted to like this book. Seriously, I did. I'm always up for seeing some ladies kick ass in my funny-books, and I've spent a good portion of my geekhood defending the '90s as a decade with tons of genuinely good, thought-provoking, or just plain entertaining comics. But boy howdy, does this book give the opposition plenty of ammo.
The scripts were competent enough at the start, but quickly devolved into a badly-paced jumble, groaning under the weight of subplot after subplot that even writer Gregory Wright didn't seem terribly interested in developing. The art has all the usual T&A, coupled with lots and lots of fight scenes that seem more interested in showing off the characters' bodies than giving the action any weight or flow.
It's not as bad as some of the other stuff Marvel was putting out in the '90s (at the very least, Liefeld's name was nowhere near it), but something's definitely wrong when a reader comes away feeling that a Bat Family Crossover with two other titles and a fill-in by a guest writer were the highlights.
The saddest part? There is potential under all the mediocrity. Silver, I'll admit, was never the most well-rounded or likable character, but the character arc Wright tried to build around her search for her old man, struggles with cold-blooded kills, and retirement could've been aces with better pacing and dialogue. Sandman was perhaps the most likable of the Wild Pack, being an ex-con who had some decent status as a villain, and it's always heartening to see those kinds of characters try to turn their lives around. The rest of the Pack is more one-note - Crippler the pain junkie, Powell the (sorta) Noble Bigot, Chen the mutilation-happy Asian girl with a Bodyguard Crush, Battlestar the token Cape - but their bicker-happy dynamic is something that a better writer could surely have turned into something more.
For all that, I'll admit that most of the comic was a Guilty Pleasure for me, and would surely have been the source of many a Drinking Game if I were that kind of geek. And what the hell - reading the final issue - along with Wright's heartfelt farewell to the fans - damn near brought a tear to my eye. Wanna fight about it?