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Post by HoM on Aug 25, 2009 18:59:44 GMT -5
Please tell us what you thought of this issue!
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Post by HoM on Aug 26, 2009 11:22:38 GMT -5
I'm a big fan of Man-Bat, and I'll tell anyone who asks exactly that. Ever since "On Leather Wings" I've been completely enamoured with the character, and no writer/artists/episode/issue has ever come close to that pinnacle of brilliant (And don't get me started on "Heart of Ice", whoar).
So when my first gig as ongoing editor of Rogues Gallery turned out to be about Man-Bat, I was a bit scared, because, honestly, who wouldn't be? To be honest Cam... I have to say that this issue was a bit of a letdown. The prose was very purple-- but then again, when it comes to Batman, I'm also guilty of that, so I don't want to be hypocritical. But whenever someone writes Gotham, it's all daunting and gothic and stuff we've already heard before. The opening was an exercise in being overly melodramatic, and distracted me from the get-go:
... Yeah.
I had high hopes for the story, very Jekyll-and-Hyde, very Peter-David-on-Incredible-Hulk, but then I realised it's exactly that-- something we've seen quite a few times before. And whilst you attempted to make it something different, it never reached the pedestal that I've put Man-Bat on (so maybe that's my fault, I don't know). There were moments where I was taken fully out of the story, and I won't go through the story and pick out every one, but the very last line...
... What? How did he see a tear form in his own eye? Argh, I know what you were going for, but it was just like... "buwhuh?", so it took me out completely, and left me in a daze for a few minutes afterwards, trying to rectify it in my head after the fact.
I did enjoy your characterisation of Kirk Langstrom though, wholeheartedly enjoyed, you have a great grasp of the fact that he's THE tragic figure, afflicted with this secondary personality that makes him go a bit... bat£$%^ every now and then, and his haunted appearances in the story really showed that.
The story showed potential, and didn't hit the heights it could have, but there's room for improvement that I look forward to seeing reached down the line.
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Post by Ammunition88 on Aug 26, 2009 12:15:22 GMT -5
glad you brought up the tear thing, Charlie.... I was afriad from the beginning that peple might not get was I was going for with that. But, whenever I'm faced with something new to try on a book that I'm afraid might not work, I force myself to do it anyway.... You never know until you try....
Anyway, what I was trying to go for was that Langstrom's view of things is different this time. It's not quite the normal first person view like usual, it's more of a distance view. Sorry if I didn't quite get that across.
As for the opening narrative. I read a lot of fantasy novels, and at the top of my list are two series. The Wheel of Time and Mistborn, both of which have writers that go into what I like to call a "poetic narrative" that I've always admired. It makes their writing come alive to me, but I'm also a big fan of poets like Jack Kerouac, so I guess it comes with the territory.
Anyway, sorry if it was a letdown, but all-in-all, I'm proud of what I accomplished with the issue. I did with it exactly what I set out to do, and although I slipped up here and there, there really isn't much I would change about it if I could.
-Cam-
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