This one I bought at Coas
Used Bookstore about a month ago.
After I’d read it, I wasn’t quite sure what my opinion of it was and
then I forgot about it. Conception-wise,
I’ve never seen a format like this to compare it to. Essentially, it’s a collection of Crossgen’s monthly comics. It’s sort of a sampler of their ongoing
titles, but in an ongoing series of trades.
For eight issues at $12, I’d guess it would be a pretty
good deal if you were interested in collecting all of the titles. (I don’t know
what Crossgen was charging for individual titles at the time.) Otherwise, I’m sure this would be a big waste
of money. This seems like way too much
of a niche product. It’s basically for
collectors really into Crossgen titles.
I’ll go over the individual titles.
Chronicles
#3
This title is about the pre-Sigil history of the Crossgen
universe. (What does that mean? I don’t really know.) This issues features the How I Met Your Mother story of Meridian,
which is the sort of steam-punk-ish fantasy title. It’s very fanciful in conception. The main draw here is George Perez’s artwork. (Just
kill me for that pun. I didn’t even
realize I’d done it until I reread the line.)
The story is just the backstory for Meridian. I don’t know the main story enough to really
rate this.
Meridian
#25 and #26
As I said, this is a fantasy story. #25 has the climax of the fight between the
girl that’s the main character and the main villain. #26 was the aftermath of the conflict and a
new direction for the story. It’s hard
to pick up a story at the end and the next part seemed too long and
unnecessary. Steve McNiven’s artwork is tremendous though.
The
Negation #7
This is sort of the science fiction one with sort of
superheroes. It seems to be the linchpin
in the Crossgen universe and setting up the big villain. Unfortunately, this issue was just a pointless
fight between two groups of people who should be allies. The artwork was pretty good.
The
Path #5
Okay, here’s something I don’t have an easy analogue
for. It involves a Viking in feudal
Japan that’s friends with a samurai. Walt Simonson does the artwork. While he does a great job, unfortunately most
of this issue’s art was a highly stylized Medieval depiction of the Viking’s
backstory.
Sojourn
#11
I’ve read some of this one before. I have one of the trades. It’s the traditional fantasy entry. I’ve drawn a bunch of Greg Land’s artwork. Here though, some of it is a little rough. He gets better in later issues. This is another concluding chapter, but leads
easily into the next storyline. This one
is probably my favorite, but again, that was because I was more familiar with
it.
Crux
#14 and #15
With the new MCU
sure-failure The Eternals about to
come out, I can see an easy comparison here.
It’s the Eternals/Inhumans,
but in a far future setting. They are
already in conflict with The Negation. The artwork is again good, but the large
ensemble cast in these two issues is scattered and on separate story tracks. It was too confusing for me for my first
exposure.
In the back was a large promotion for a horror-themed
comic, Route 666. I’d remembered there being more Crossgen
titles and there were. There was an ad
for Edge, which collected the other
six titles from the company.
I’m still not sure what to make of all this. It’s a bit pricey for a sampler. It might intrigue a new reader into trying
certain titles to their taste. If all of
the titles were more interconnected (given the breath of genres and settings,
that would be difficult), this sort of trade would make more sense. At least, I’ve gotten some good future drawing
material from this.
As I’ve said before, I think these comics would have worked pretty well as a Wal-Mart exclusives, rather than the Allegiance comics they’re carrying now. The great artwork and action-oriented titles would have had a broader appeal. Timing is everything. I think there’s a lot of disdain for Crossgen (I don’t know the whole company story and don’t want to), but I think it could have worked in the right venue.
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