4 out of 5
Getting Vertigo: Slash & Burn
Vertigo debuted a new comic called Slash & Burn and it’s already set ablaze something in me. It’s only two issues in and after I finished reading the second issue I was already growing tired of waiting for the third.
Instead of going down the marvelous world of Marvel, I’ve set my sights on something from DC’s more mature line – Vertigo. They’ve debuted a new comic called Slash & Burn and it’s already set ablaze something in me. The comic is written by Si Spencer who’s also known for his short mini series ‘Hellblazer: City of Demon’ and his personal work ‘Bodies’. It’s only two issues in and after I finished reading the second issue I was already growing tired of waiting for the third.
Rosheen Hayes is a firefighter. An analytical woman, she’s able to pick apart through the dying embers of a fire and recognize evidence crucial to the investigation of what seems to be murder. Her skills in her field have garnered the respect and trust of the local politicians and police alike. However, her skills on the field have only developed because she herself is a pyromaniac.
‘Love thine enemy’ they say.
One of the first things to strike me as I flipped through the pages was all the artistic decisions. The style of it was easily digested, left a strong impression, but done in such a subtle way it’s easy to overlook. One of the biggest examples is in the colors. The main character, Rosheen Hayes, is a pyromaniac and the story is told from her perspective. Most of the colors she sees are dim grays and mottled browns. Everything else is almost washed out.
Except for fire.
Everything that relates to fire is brilliant and vivid. Flames are robust hues of orange, gold, and vermillion. Even the lines themselves feel alive and dance. As the fires die, they turn into a dark, but saturated scarlet. You can feel the raw, passionate energy of a fire in the tones of colors embodied in the lines. This becomes clear in contrast to a dim world of muddy colors.
The art of contrasting colors also helps pave the way for Rosheen’s character. The comic is nowhere near as dialogue heavy as many other comics can be (especially for one that isn’t exactly an action comic) but often relies on inner monologue. Usually this can be tricky for books and comics. The rule, “Show Don’t Tell” is one that gets obnoxiously broken when an author uses inner monologue. We’re given simple thoughts like, ‘this makes me angry’, or ‘this made me happy’. It makes a character become bland; one-dimensional.
Instead, inner monologue has a use as a another contrasting feature. We’re given an invitation to Rosheen’s lucid thoughts and provided insight about the inner machinations of her mind. Her mind is like a pyre and always aglow, with her thoughts always drifting back to the flames. The fervent buzz of her thoughts are often different than her cooler words.
On the outside, she stays focused on the task at hand. As much as her mind wanders she has great control over what she says and communicates effectively. Her words feel real instead of feeling robotic and clunky. Her words come off as genuine but oddly enough, it makes the other minor characters feel sloppy. That aside, Rosheen has been able to display excellent self-control and not let her obsession get the better of her in front of others. But it’s yet to be seen how long this lasts.
As I said, these past two issues are great and have me hooked. Between the intelligence of the character, the writing, and the art I cannot wait to see where this will go in the next 4 issues. However, there are a couple of things that I dread seeing that would put this all to waste.
The one other side character it’s focused on so far is a detective. I am no enemy to romance of any sort, but I despise it when romance is forced. It’s irksome to me when a story introduces a male and female character and they have to go at it just out of convenience sake. Especially because more often than not it strips the female character of whatever charm and poignancy they had and her character becomes ‘generic girl’.
Rosheen is a firefighter. She’s strong, capable, and she’s intelligent. In the first two issues it’s shown that she’s more than able of handling herself. But that hasn’t stopped writers from completely destroying a character before. I will drop this immediately if the story becomes another damsel in distress tale. Another one about how she can’t fight her demons without the help of the affable male character. On the contrary, the detective in this case (no pun intended) is just generic ‘man’, which is an issue on its own.
That isn’t to say that I’m growing cynical of this already. The first issue did a wonderful job of introducing who Rosheen was. The second issue leaves with an explosive cliffhanger that sets the tone of the plot. The staff has done an excellent job in quickly establishing the setting. It’d be shocking if this comic suddenly dive bombed with the way it’s being paced so far.
So far, I give this a 4.75/5 stars. It has an original story, quick writing, and fantastic art. Its biggest flaw is that every character aside from the main character feels insincere. The detective’s character can be summed up as, “generic man”. Her friend can be summed as “generic friend”. Because of that, it can make some of the dialogue feel a bit mechanical and clumsy. Despite this, it doesn’t detract too far from the reading experience. I highly recommend it.
The North remembers.
In the universe of Game of Thrones, scenes’ before the opening theme are constant for the first episode of every season. For example, two great scenes that come to mind are the three Night’s Watchmen hunted down by White Walkers in season one or Tywin Lannister melting down house Stark’s sword Ice for Jamie and Geoffrey, season four. On the other hand, the opening scene of season is just plain horrific but awesome at the same time. Nothing is more satisfying then watching all the men of House Frey choke on their own blood after being reminded of the Red Wedding. It was an absolute grand-slam and took off perfectly from where we last saw Aryain season 6.
The North remembers.
Right after the credits we get a quick reminder of the army of the dead, and with more bad news; Giant white walkers. But thankfully we are intercepted by Bran warding into one of them which seems like a very useful ability (what’s next dragon’s or an ice dragon?). He is now with
the Watchers on the Wall and back in the mix, hopefully heading for Winterfell where he can inform Jon he is a Targaryan (This will be hype! I wonder if he can be burnt by fire!). Bran’s story has taken a back seat to other prevalent Starks but it’s nice to see him in the mix, demonstrating his power.
Next, we have psycho Cersei and her sane, lover brother Jaime. I still can’t forgive him for pushing Bran from the tower but I am starting to come around. The disapproving way he has been looking at Cersei dating back to last season says it all. From confronting her about
Tommen’s suicide, to questioning her about the enemies created (Targaryans, Tyrells, Starks, Dornish, and Half the Iron Borne) and the lifeless dynasty they will continue. He keeps his position with Cersei discussing what allies they have left but Jaime is clearly becoming distant and realizing the extent of his lover/sister’s delusion. I forecast a remake of the tale of “The King Slayer” retitled “The Queen Slayer”. In the mean time, the diabolical Yuron Greyjoy, the new king of the Iron Islands rekindles the bond between the Lannisters to move him into a prime position to become King of The Seven (three at this point) Kingdoms. He is presented as a lot more cunning and rounded character kissing up to the Queen and promising her a gift, whether that be Tyrion, and/or a thousand ship armada. What will be interested is how Jaime responds to a marriage between them, because Cersei and Yuron have a demonistic chemistry. She even abides by him making hand jokes and death threats (killing his brother, telling her to do the same). This was a fantastic scene all the while, and it really shows if Cersei get’s close to Yuron and isolates Jamie she will create yet another enemy.
We then get to a short snippet of Samwell Tally’s horrific, grotesque life as a server at the Citadel preparing to become the maester of Castle Black. There is a massive scene which shows him preparing food, cleaning and handling old people plumbing. What’s intriguing is the un-thrones like comedic cut between him doing his daily work; It’s funny and it’s not a bad idea to lighten the tone up because Tyrion used to be the comedy for us in the earlier seasons. Samwell helps the archmaester with the dissection of a corpse where he confirms his thoughts of the White Walkers. What was kind of cheap for me was his simple way of finding dragon glass through a book in the restricted section. It seemed too easy for Game of Thrones, like something you would see Hermione Granger find in the “restricted section”. Hopefully there is more too this but it was kind of stale and forced
Oh wait, Ed Sheeran? I didn’t see it coming, and I thought it was weird but acceptable. It was obviously him having an in with the producers and wanting a cameo role, but he has pure, angelic voice and creates a sympathetic feeling for the Lannister troops that brings out the non-assassin in Arya. She tells them she’s on her way to kings landing to “kill the queen” and it’s not taking seriously which shows how dangerous she has become. But what I see from this is season two when Mellisandre said there is a darkness in her. This darkness has come to fruition and it will be interesting to see how this is received by the remaining Starks. Besides the randomness of Ed Sheeran, I thought this really grounded Arya.
Sandor Clegane and the brotherhood without banners are now at a place he would rather not be; an old victim’s house where Clegane took their silver and resources. They find the father and daughter dead, holding each other. This almost creates an epiphany for the character, asking why the child dies, and fellow brother Beric Dondarion should be brought back. Then the flames get him, showing him the army of the dead and the reality of the larger issue at hand. I think we will see a more compliant hound the rest of this season. I’ve loved this character from the beginning and his arch is getting much broader for the better. I predict a positive change in attitude for the hound.
Finally, the Queen of Dragons, Breaker of Chains, Denarys Stormborn is finally home. From season one this is the only thing she has wanted. But now, she has an army of unsullied, the Dothraki and there gigantic Dragons. The final scene of her tearing down the Baratheon banner and taking her spot among her ancestors war table was breathtaking. It was a long, drawn out scene but the character deserves this and it has been a long time waiting. Fire and blood seem to be the strongest motto of any house right now, and it will for sure be enforced upon the Lannisters. My prediction although is that she won’t penetrate King’s Landing because of Cersei’s ruthlessness and George R.R Martin curveball tendency. Whit I think everyone is looking forward to is the meeting with Jon Snow that will eventually happen. It will be interesting if she commands him to bend the knee (he better not, he’s the rightful heir of the Taragaryan house and not a usurper like Daenarys)! This episode was a great starting block for the season while still providing notable and exciting action.
Rest in peace, watermelon.
The latest episodes in ‘Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid’ were very interesting to watch.
One was definitely a fanservice episode, and heck, even the producers know that! Episode 7’s title contains the phrase ‘The Fanservice Episode, Obviously’, so that cracked me up.
Episode 7 focuses on the elements of anime that will appeal to any nerd out there. By that, of course I mean bathing suits and comic conventions! Cue the beach episode!
Tohru and company decide to go swimming for the day. Kanna’s adorable as always, while Lucoa doesn’t realize just how sexual she is toward a small boy.
Like, really? You think wearing a very sexy swimsuit in front of a lot of kids on a beach is okay? And why do you insist on torturing Shouta with your breasts? It’s obvious that he’s tempted, but stop trying to seduce small children.
Of course, they’re dragons, so hilarious antics ensue. Tohru and Kanna get carried away in a swimming race, making water splash up everywhere. Also, a crab and watermelon are murdered. RIP.
However, one aspect that I thought was a nice touch was the backstory we got for Tohru. It wasn’t much, but Tohru and Kobayashi have a deep and meaningful conversation about their family’s lives, as well as how humans and dragons are different from one another. Fanservice episodes usually focus on that alone, but fortunately that’s not the case here.
The second half of Episode 7 focuses on Comiket. Tohru and Kobayashi help Takiya run a booth, and we learn that Fafnir is also participating by attempting to sell powerful curses. Wow, didn’t see thaaaaat coming at all.
Tohru notices otherworldly creatures in their true forms at Comiket, as they reveal that this is a great way to show their true forms. With Kobayashi’s permission, Tohru exposes her wings and tail, appearing to others as if she’s cosplaying as, well, a dragon maid.
Episode 7 was very nice because there were many heartfelt and adorable moments.
Meanwhile, Episode 8 FINALLY introduced the dragon that I keep on mentioning in my reviews. Her name’s Elma, a dragon who is a rival of Tohru’s. Elma accuses Tohru of disrupting the human’s ways and tries to force her to return to the dragon world. This doesn’t succeed, however, as Tohru sends her to an open field and leaves her there.
Unable to get back home, Elma stays in the human world and begins working at Kobayashi’s company. Kobayashi teaches Elma how to use computers and technology so that she can keep her job. Of course, this prompts Tohru to become jealous, smelling the scent of another dragon off Kobayashi like a dog does with a human. I won’t reveal how the episode ends, but it ends in a positive manner for Tohru.
Overall, I really loved these two episodes because they made me feel warm and fuzzy. They appealed to the emotional senses through a heartfelt conversation between Kobayashi and Tohru. Elma is also an innocent sweetheart who only wants to bring harmony to the human and dragon worlds. And I can’t wait to see more of her in the upcoming episodes.
I feel like in these two episodes alone, we learned so much about Tohru and her feelings for Kobayashi. She really wants to understand the human world and will do anything to stay with Kobayashi.
I’ll up my rating to a 4.7. These episodes were both fun, and we finally got the new dragon! Bless.
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