Showing posts with label crappy art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crappy art. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Uncle Sam and the runaway photocopier

I like Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters. I do. I really really do. It's a well written book that can stand up to several readings but I'm about ready to pitch the current mini-series. Why? Crappy, lazy artwork. Yup, I said CRAPPY LAAAAZY ARTWORK!! I do like Renato Arlem, but this man either was under one hell of a deadline or he is the laziest artist since Keith Giffen. EXPLANATION: Why I called Keith Giffen lazy is due to his work on HEX back in the day. The man would draw one freaking eyeball in a panel of black and I was supposed to try to figure out what the hell was going on. BACK TO REGULAR POST I present the following for your perusal.

Here is a nice page from issue #1 but if you look at the Human Bomb in the 1st & 4th panel, he matches. So does the Red Bee in the 1st & 2nd. Doc Midnight in the 1st & 2nd has only an arm being different and the Ray in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th panel.


Take a look at Red Bee in panel 1 and 2, exactly the same except that it has been flipped.


Compare Black Condor in panel 4 and 5. How about Director Robbins in panel 1 and 6? And then you can compare Firebrand in panel five and a panel from the prior page.
Things got a lot worse in issue #2. Almost the whole book was photocopied. Here is page 2. Director Robbins in panel 1, 2, & 3. Phantom Lady's body position is the same in the 3 panels and the face and arms match in 2 & 4


Page 4 isn't any better. Half the page is exactly the same! I understand that the action takes place in a room, but there are better, more artistic ways to display that. Like maybe drawing the scene from a different angle? Or is that too much like work?
Let's head on to page 5. Let's marvel that someone got paid good money to do this. The lady in purple in panel 1 has been flipped and placed in panel 2. Phantom Lady is exactly the same in panels 1 & 2 as well as 3, 4, & 5.Let's go to the next page. Granted this page has 5 panels and for the most part you can't see anything similar...except for panels 2 & 4. Again the purple lady has been flipped. I won't carp about the podium being the exact same, we have already established that Arlem has no eye for cinema.Next page, Arlem shows the passage of time by giving us identical poses. However it makes me think the lady in the chair is dead.

Next we have a big fight. See if you can spot things that look alike in these three panelsAnd now my head explodes with anger at the closing pages. Let's make this easy. Howabout we find a panel that DOESN'T have artwork copied somewhere else? Hmm, let's see, panel 1 has the same Uncle Sam as panels 2, 6, & 7. Human Bomb is the same in panels 1, 4, 5, 6, flipped in 7. Dollman is the same in panel 1, 5, & 11. The lady in blue is the same in 1, 5, flipped in 7, and in 11. Stormy is the same in 1, 2, 4, 5, & 6 with only minor changes to the face or arms. Stormy in panel 7 matches 8 & 9. And Uncle Sam is the same in panels 11, 12, & 13 and Human Bomb is identical in 11 & 12. And to finish everything off lets' have the first and last panels be mirror images of each other. But wait, isn't panel 3 familiar? Well it will be when you flip the page and see the exact same face again. I would scan it for you, but why? It's identical.I'm sorry, DC, but if I'm gonna shell out $2.99 for a book, I would like a good story AND good art. If this happens in issue #3, I'm dropping the book and not buying anything that has Arlem's handiwork in it ever again.