Comics Fondle

There’s a disconnect between writing and art after Deadman’s second issue. It takes Jones a long time–two issues being a long time for this one–to define what the series is going to be (an almost-espionage thriller with a few twists, major and minor) and once he does, Watkiss’s art doesn’t work anymore. Yes, seeing Watkiss draw the original Deadman costume is really cool and it does look great, but Watkiss’s art lends itself to the series’s more fantastic properties… and, by the fifth issue, Deadman has devolved into a thriller set in the UK with car chases, trucks crashing and bad guys who have all the same uniforms. It’s a James Bond movie without the accents to make the setting convincing. Watkiss just doesn’t fit for it.

While devolved might be a stronger word than needed–the thriller issues are better, more focused and consumable than the metaphysical ones, when Jones tries to explore, confuse and develop at the same time–but it’s accurate. Jones doesn’t try as hard in these issues and, after the second issue, his dialogue becomes less stilted and more relaxed. It’s still full of exposition, but at least it’s the believable exposition about events the characters (and reader) have just experienced. He also makes the characters a little more likable–though Watkiss’s art hurts that one, as the protagonist constantly looks like a menacing zombie.

The problem with the last of these issues is pretty simple… Jones flips yet another switch in the series. He’d been threatening for a while, but in the last couple pages, he snaps the series in another direction. Deadman, as Jones has set up the series, can handle a lot, but the constant changes are still disjointing. Instead of the series taking place–initially–in a “real” world, Jones all of a sudden reveals it takes place in a not-so-real world, which means everything he’s done for the previous four issues is suspect. At any moment, Superman could come flying in. Well, not Superman, but someone could fly in.

He’s also abandoned his protagonist’s situation (being dead but animate) for the thriller, which he does so deftly, it hadn’t occurred to me until now, an hour after finishing the last of these issues.

As with the first issue, Jones’s UK setting has problems–especially when the series is talking heads–but it’s fine once it’s just the heroes on the run from the bad guys. Plays a little like Foreign Correspondent or something.

B

Recommend on Mahalo