Kevin Sutton
Jul 8, 2005, 01:58 am
<a href=" http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0405/OceanCv6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0405/OceanCv6T.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Ocean #6"></a>Reviewer: Kevin Sutton, kevinsutton@cheerful.com
Story Title: Part 5 of 5
It takes an ocean millions of years to develop properly, and this story is no different.
Cover Art: Michael Golden
Writer: Warren Ellis
Penciller: Chris Sprouse
Inker: Karl Story
Colorist: Randy Mayor of WSFX
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn
Editor: Scott Dunbier
Publisher: <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/wildstorm/ " target="new">Wildstorm/DC Comics</a>
Ocean Created by: Warren Ellis & Chris Sprouse
Gah!
I usually don’t start my reviews like that, but then I usually don’t get to experience the morbid pleasure that goes along with tearing down someone else’s hard work. But that’s the sad duty I have tasked myself with for this review. With a cool concept and some early frightening imagery my expectations were high for this story. But after five issues the story consisted of some small talk, some exposition, a sci-fi idea or two, and a few action sequences.
This issue seemed promising, what with it’s extra pages and wicked bad ass cover. But it failed to deliver. Instead we see in this conclusion several of the flaws that plagued the series, and a few more. By the way; it is imperative that you reread the previous issue of this series. Twice. If you don’t, you will not understand much of what is going on.
Unfortunately, stories that run late have a nasty tendency of being incomprehensible when the plot relies upon small forgettable facts in issues that were read over a month ago. Sure, you can reread an issue, but when trying to get yourself caught back up to speed, it’s an awful lot like studying and not much like entertainment. Still, it’s better to reread the previous issue before this one rather than read the conclusion first and have to look back to figure out what happened. Which is why I let you know that before I warn off everyone if they fear the spoilers contained within the rest of the review.
Behold! Alien scarab craft! --and now they’re gone! Nuts. That was fast. Warren Ellis throws out a lot of neat concepts like that, but he neither develops them enough nor does he make up for it with lots of different ideas. Unlike Grant Morrison’s idea-laden Vimanarama, Ocean is grounded in a realistic setting, but it doesn’t take advantage of the wonder inherent to even a realist sci-fi. The wondrous elements never amount to more than interesting cogs in an adventure story.
In the previous issue we learned who the alien threat is. Now that that expository chore is out of the way, the story solves the conflict by getting rid of them. There’s no wonder or style, instead everything seems mechanical. It’s as if the Doors corporation programmed Warren Ellis to write a formulaic sci-fi adventure. Strange aliens threaten man, some men cause trouble for their personal gain, everything is resolved in one climactic action sequence….aaaaaaand scene. This sci-fi was based around conflicts. But the conflicts were not particularly portrayed in a manner that instilled fear or excitement.
There were some strong issues, but as I reached the last issue I found that much still needed to be done. With only one double sized issue left, the story required some kind of climax to the dangerous alien threat. So instead of an exploration of anything sci-fi, we get an extended and confusing sequence of activities designed to eliminate the antagonists.
The opening fight sequence is not impressive. While the main characters makes use of the station’s artificial gravity to aid his fight, you can only tell by reading the word balloons. Nothing in the layouts suggest the disorientation that you would expect from gravity changing. The main subjects fighting are almost always depicted with their heads up and feet down, and the backgrounds are indistinct. Some of that can be blamed on a featureless space station hallway, but the use of generic ‘wide screen’ panelling makes it impossible for the layout to truly depict the changes to the environment. The main character busts out some strange bullet-things, which may have appeared earlier in the series, but if they did, I forgot about them. As such, the lack of explanation and unimpressive depiction of their effects left me wondering what those were supposed to be; at first it appeared as if the reader was expected to believe that gravity caused the bullets to gain momentum. The science of this series runs into a wall when Nathan uses the changing gravity to deflect one of the Doormen’s acid gun. Which is great except that the gun didn’t drop acid, it shot it out. Why should it suddenly lose all forward momentum when the gravity changes direction? Or was Nathan just escaping up the wall? (If so, why would the acid trajectory curve?) The panel is unclear. The layout also fails to make clear that a certain lab door is opening and closing rapidly. If the previous issue hadn’t come out well over a month ago, I probably would have remembered that, and then I would have known what the head Doorman was alluding to. As such, the conversation was a little confusing at first read.
Speaking of which, the Doorman certainly doesn’t come off as much of a threat. That’s probably one of the reasons for my lack of interest here. Nathan so convincingly disposes of the Doormen, that I have to wonder how stuff like, “What makes you think you get a vote?” is supposed to sound threatening. He ‘gets a vote’ because he just killed almost you’re entire landing party in the opening sequence! Surrender you fool!
Nathan’s plan is another unfortunate victim of the poor layout and lack of good exposition. The Doorman is shocked when he sees the alien weapon has fired… at something…?…the art is brutally unclear. It’s the planet by the way. At first I thought that the weapon had fired at the station, after all we never see the Doorman again, so I thought he had been killed after that panel. That was a bad move. Not clearly showing or explaining what the weapon had fired at was a worse mistake. The first time I read this, I was left wondering why the planet was exploding.
We then get several pages of explosions which lack any real impact. With so many pages trying to impress us, and with such a static layout, there’s just not much to really look at. Sprouse and Avina’s styles don’t really allow them to show an impressive action sequence or impressive action images here. The colours aren’t flashy enough, nor is Sprouses’ work a style that has comic book impact or super-heavy detail. So he doesn’t seem able to draw a really impressive action layout or special effects on the epic scale desired by the script. It’s technically proficient and capable of scientific and geological designs, but it’s not up to the task of impressing with action or scale over a series of pages where the script asks for little more than a sequence of explosions and movements.
A few minor troubles arise during the escape, and while they don’t really put the crew in any believable danger, they do provide an opportunity to tie the ending sequence in to Nathan’s interest in early space exploration as expressed earlier in the series. That was really good, and thus it provides a good final few pages, even as they continue to remind me why I didn’t care for the small talk among this cast. The characters just never seemed particularly compelling. They got the necessary exposition earlier in the series, and then it didn’t matter anymore. They all got a personality, but as the plot progressed most of their behaviour mattered little.
The final sequence has the credits split across multiple panels in an attempt to mimic a film’s credit style. (I think) Which just further suggests that this was an attempt at a sci-fi movie on page. I suppose that accounts for much of what was missing in this story. It’s a by-the-numbers sci-fi adventure movie, and while it’s a genre not utilized heavily in comics, it’s still a by-the-numbers story.
The plot advanced consistently, but sadly there was little in ideas or development to sink my teeth into. Neither the core concept, nor any of the related elements were being seriously pursued. The Doors concept was excellent, but it was limited in importance, as it only provided a motive for the villain. The main character’s ideology was interesting, but likewise it never seemed particularly important to the story as it only gave us a glimpse into his character. Either the concepts didn’t have enough relevance to the main plot, or there just weren’t enough of them. Maybe the story was drawn out too long and relied too heavily on drawn out sequences or too much small talk. It really seems as if the creators were attempting to mimic a big budget Hollywood blockbuster sci-fi movie like…. Supernova… or …no that’s enough, you get the idea.
By the way, I’m actually not feeling any kind of morbid pleasure from knocking Ocean #6. I suppose that’s a good thing. I’d much rather have liked the story and have been able to recommend it, and I do think this story still has some appeal. Ocean had some moments, and the art does have its strengths; but the overall story and this issue in particular are filled with missed opportunities. Sorry.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics and save! ( http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1512&cat=OCEAN)
Story Title: Part 5 of 5
It takes an ocean millions of years to develop properly, and this story is no different.
Cover Art: Michael Golden
Writer: Warren Ellis
Penciller: Chris Sprouse
Inker: Karl Story
Colorist: Randy Mayor of WSFX
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn
Editor: Scott Dunbier
Publisher: <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/wildstorm/ " target="new">Wildstorm/DC Comics</a>
Ocean Created by: Warren Ellis & Chris Sprouse
Gah!
I usually don’t start my reviews like that, but then I usually don’t get to experience the morbid pleasure that goes along with tearing down someone else’s hard work. But that’s the sad duty I have tasked myself with for this review. With a cool concept and some early frightening imagery my expectations were high for this story. But after five issues the story consisted of some small talk, some exposition, a sci-fi idea or two, and a few action sequences.
This issue seemed promising, what with it’s extra pages and wicked bad ass cover. But it failed to deliver. Instead we see in this conclusion several of the flaws that plagued the series, and a few more. By the way; it is imperative that you reread the previous issue of this series. Twice. If you don’t, you will not understand much of what is going on.
Unfortunately, stories that run late have a nasty tendency of being incomprehensible when the plot relies upon small forgettable facts in issues that were read over a month ago. Sure, you can reread an issue, but when trying to get yourself caught back up to speed, it’s an awful lot like studying and not much like entertainment. Still, it’s better to reread the previous issue before this one rather than read the conclusion first and have to look back to figure out what happened. Which is why I let you know that before I warn off everyone if they fear the spoilers contained within the rest of the review.
Behold! Alien scarab craft! --and now they’re gone! Nuts. That was fast. Warren Ellis throws out a lot of neat concepts like that, but he neither develops them enough nor does he make up for it with lots of different ideas. Unlike Grant Morrison’s idea-laden Vimanarama, Ocean is grounded in a realistic setting, but it doesn’t take advantage of the wonder inherent to even a realist sci-fi. The wondrous elements never amount to more than interesting cogs in an adventure story.
In the previous issue we learned who the alien threat is. Now that that expository chore is out of the way, the story solves the conflict by getting rid of them. There’s no wonder or style, instead everything seems mechanical. It’s as if the Doors corporation programmed Warren Ellis to write a formulaic sci-fi adventure. Strange aliens threaten man, some men cause trouble for their personal gain, everything is resolved in one climactic action sequence….aaaaaaand scene. This sci-fi was based around conflicts. But the conflicts were not particularly portrayed in a manner that instilled fear or excitement.
There were some strong issues, but as I reached the last issue I found that much still needed to be done. With only one double sized issue left, the story required some kind of climax to the dangerous alien threat. So instead of an exploration of anything sci-fi, we get an extended and confusing sequence of activities designed to eliminate the antagonists.
The opening fight sequence is not impressive. While the main characters makes use of the station’s artificial gravity to aid his fight, you can only tell by reading the word balloons. Nothing in the layouts suggest the disorientation that you would expect from gravity changing. The main subjects fighting are almost always depicted with their heads up and feet down, and the backgrounds are indistinct. Some of that can be blamed on a featureless space station hallway, but the use of generic ‘wide screen’ panelling makes it impossible for the layout to truly depict the changes to the environment. The main character busts out some strange bullet-things, which may have appeared earlier in the series, but if they did, I forgot about them. As such, the lack of explanation and unimpressive depiction of their effects left me wondering what those were supposed to be; at first it appeared as if the reader was expected to believe that gravity caused the bullets to gain momentum. The science of this series runs into a wall when Nathan uses the changing gravity to deflect one of the Doormen’s acid gun. Which is great except that the gun didn’t drop acid, it shot it out. Why should it suddenly lose all forward momentum when the gravity changes direction? Or was Nathan just escaping up the wall? (If so, why would the acid trajectory curve?) The panel is unclear. The layout also fails to make clear that a certain lab door is opening and closing rapidly. If the previous issue hadn’t come out well over a month ago, I probably would have remembered that, and then I would have known what the head Doorman was alluding to. As such, the conversation was a little confusing at first read.
Speaking of which, the Doorman certainly doesn’t come off as much of a threat. That’s probably one of the reasons for my lack of interest here. Nathan so convincingly disposes of the Doormen, that I have to wonder how stuff like, “What makes you think you get a vote?” is supposed to sound threatening. He ‘gets a vote’ because he just killed almost you’re entire landing party in the opening sequence! Surrender you fool!
Nathan’s plan is another unfortunate victim of the poor layout and lack of good exposition. The Doorman is shocked when he sees the alien weapon has fired… at something…?…the art is brutally unclear. It’s the planet by the way. At first I thought that the weapon had fired at the station, after all we never see the Doorman again, so I thought he had been killed after that panel. That was a bad move. Not clearly showing or explaining what the weapon had fired at was a worse mistake. The first time I read this, I was left wondering why the planet was exploding.
We then get several pages of explosions which lack any real impact. With so many pages trying to impress us, and with such a static layout, there’s just not much to really look at. Sprouse and Avina’s styles don’t really allow them to show an impressive action sequence or impressive action images here. The colours aren’t flashy enough, nor is Sprouses’ work a style that has comic book impact or super-heavy detail. So he doesn’t seem able to draw a really impressive action layout or special effects on the epic scale desired by the script. It’s technically proficient and capable of scientific and geological designs, but it’s not up to the task of impressing with action or scale over a series of pages where the script asks for little more than a sequence of explosions and movements.
A few minor troubles arise during the escape, and while they don’t really put the crew in any believable danger, they do provide an opportunity to tie the ending sequence in to Nathan’s interest in early space exploration as expressed earlier in the series. That was really good, and thus it provides a good final few pages, even as they continue to remind me why I didn’t care for the small talk among this cast. The characters just never seemed particularly compelling. They got the necessary exposition earlier in the series, and then it didn’t matter anymore. They all got a personality, but as the plot progressed most of their behaviour mattered little.
The final sequence has the credits split across multiple panels in an attempt to mimic a film’s credit style. (I think) Which just further suggests that this was an attempt at a sci-fi movie on page. I suppose that accounts for much of what was missing in this story. It’s a by-the-numbers sci-fi adventure movie, and while it’s a genre not utilized heavily in comics, it’s still a by-the-numbers story.
The plot advanced consistently, but sadly there was little in ideas or development to sink my teeth into. Neither the core concept, nor any of the related elements were being seriously pursued. The Doors concept was excellent, but it was limited in importance, as it only provided a motive for the villain. The main character’s ideology was interesting, but likewise it never seemed particularly important to the story as it only gave us a glimpse into his character. Either the concepts didn’t have enough relevance to the main plot, or there just weren’t enough of them. Maybe the story was drawn out too long and relied too heavily on drawn out sequences or too much small talk. It really seems as if the creators were attempting to mimic a big budget Hollywood blockbuster sci-fi movie like…. Supernova… or …no that’s enough, you get the idea.
By the way, I’m actually not feeling any kind of morbid pleasure from knocking Ocean #6. I suppose that’s a good thing. I’d much rather have liked the story and have been able to recommend it, and I do think this story still has some appeal. Ocean had some moments, and the art does have its strengths; but the overall story and this issue in particular are filled with missed opportunities. Sorry.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wsnone.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics and save! ( http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1512&cat=OCEAN)