My first reviewed graphic novel, read during an internet outage as it was on the coffee table. It was alright, but I have to say that I rather liked the movie better.

While it seems fitting that comic books about comic-book-style heroes should be comics, I also have to say that I just don’t really enjoy the format anymore. The art is a style all its own, but its not amazing–I don’t think it adds very much to the story, over time, and especially not much to this story, which is a bit more about the lives of the heroes involved than the actual heroic acts.

It seems to me that most comic book art is about getting a dramatic view of the scene, or to show a scene from a particular characters point of view: the pane is the back wall of Rosarch’s cell, for example, and thus we kind of get a point of view from Rosarch inside the cell. But the art is usually half-covered by dialogue, especially in a story like this, and it’s only giving you a base feel and not detailed enough to really set a mood like a movie can. I guess I just prefer the format.

That all being said, its a good story with some good moral questions. Is it okay to nuke New York to save the world? I don’t know that the story treats the question very deeply, and for the actual morality of the issue I’d prefer to read some cognitive psych. But it’s a fun romp with some real meat to it and that’s hard to do, so I still liked it. Certainly, it’s far better than the comics that were around when I was in the 8th grade.