Product Description: Warren Ellis' eight-issue opus of masked hero revolution, Black Summer, perfectly complimented by the stunning and explosive art of the genius Juan Jose Ryp, is nothing less than a sequential masterpiece! The world goes black in this epic story of super-powered heroes and villains. The story begins when the political situation in the United States becomes more than Horus can stand, and he moves to take matters into his own hands. Unfortunately, not all of his team-mates are quite so eager to throw the world into chaos, and an epic conflict ensues. With Horus and the rest of the surviving Guns facing off against the military and each other, no one is safe as the bodies start to fall.
Feel Good Title of the (Black) Summer Felt this title deserved another review based on the other reviews and the average rating. Black Summer is a quasi-political superhero sci-fi tale of ethics, paramilitary intrigue, and authoritism. The premise (without giving too much away) is a group of idealistic, brilliant, not-always-agreeable minds conceive of advanced scientific research that in turn ends up funded and watchdogged by greater powers that be. By the same token this group becomes more human than human with technologically advanced suits operating as a team of soldiers outside the confines of powers that be. When one of the more combustible members goes awol in committing a horrendous crime that cannot be condoned by his colleagues, it leads to our entire group of "heroes" becoming public enemy number one of the United States government and military - mayhem ensues. Or more fittingly put, "the @#$! hits the @#$@ fan!
The plotting is a fine line in between narrative spanning the current developments of said "horrendous act" while back-pedaling to fill us in on the main characters and what led-up to the current predicament. Trying to develop where not only our "heroes" come from, but relating to one another and these powers they develop and how the responsibility or use of powers should lie and the toll of it all. The story hits the ground running from the first page, but has to fill us in on what came before. It's an interesting and semi-successful balancing act that will leave some readers with a bitter aftertaste, and some satisfied but wanting more. It has a finite ending, and I was in the "satisfied but wanting more" camp. There's no other way to it, because that is the intention of the story.
Gorgeous, eye-poppingly attentive, and painstakingly detailed artwork is on hand throughout. Seriously the kind of work that is almost unseen of these days can leave the reader lost for minutes just absorbing it outside of the narrative. Juan Jose Ryp is one of the most gifted and impressive artists working today bar none. Why he is not a household name among comic enthusiasts beside his esteemed collaborator on this book is beyond me. He's a bright star; I hope he doesn't burn out too fast like many before him because I am now a huge fan as a result of this book!
If anything buy this book for two reasons. Reason number one: because it's different and takes chances. The plot and narrative itself is exciting and challenges itself and the reader by being in a difficult position taking larger pieces and putting them together to form a smaller puzzle. Really it's an exercise to form a story that is equal parts observation of the world we live in and the world that could be mixing sci-fi and superheroics with equal parts power and ethics, combined into a nasty bomb starting narratively with an explosion. Reason number two: the incredible, astounding, bleedingly brilliant artwork.
Great premise, terrible execution Black Summer starts out strong with images of a bloodspattered Oval Office and a mysterious superhero addressing a crowd. He lists off why he thinks the President deserved to die, then goes on the run. So far so good. How is America going to react? Why did he do it? Where did he come from?
Sadly the book goes nowhere after that. The rest of the superhero team and their powers must have taken about five minutes to create. A female flash..with a gun! A strong guy.. with a gun! Someone who can fly.. you get the idea. Their only opponents are the same soldier and helicopter over and over (and later themselves in all black) without much exploration of their backstory. The characters try to express regret about killing, then they kill hundreds. The main character declares that there shall be new elections, then he hovers over a mountain range to fight poorly drawn fighter jets. The battles are completely one-sided and only serve to leave one side looking as if they fell in a blender.
The battles repeat themselves as everyone they fight meets the exact same bloody death. The story goes nowhere and provides no new perspective on the Bush administration that couldn't be found from skimming wikipedia.
There is nothing new here, if you must just read the first three pages and imagine a better story.
It may not be what you think. Black Summer is a political action drama, draped in superhero fiction; it's premise being the question of when you are the one holding the power, where is the line between good and bad, and what is the difference between what is "just" and what is "right"? The book can be a tad heavy handed in some of it's political themes, and some of the character dialogue can at times feel a bit clunky; it's by no means a brilliant book, but if you're a mature fan of graphic novels, and dark superhero stories, then it's definitely worth a read.
Entertaining ride but not enough follow through The premise is brilliant. In 2006 a superhero kills the President of the United States citing the Iraq War and stolen elections. His teammates find themselves hunted by the army as the U.S. descends into chaos.
Ellis does a good job of quickly introducing his original superheroes and setting up their premise. Juan Jose Ryp's art is kinetic and fun, he does great gunfights and explosions and Ellis makes sure he has plenty of chances to do both. The heroes have an interesting modern design based more on motorcross suits and military uniforms than superhero spandex.
So Black Summer is quite a bit of fun. But the promise is never fulfilled. there's no real time spent on how people on the street are reacting, we don't even hear who is running the country with the President and VP dead (legally it would be Speaker of the House but it's never mentioned). We get a line or two about riots or fighting within the military but nothing definite.
Despite the inflammatory premise Bush is never named or shown and not much detail about what drove the hero to kill him.
So we end up with an exciting, well-drawn story of high tech heroes vs the US Army and each other but not much substance.
First Graphic Novel Purchase This is the only graphic novel I own, as it is the first that I purchased. I don't know much about graphic novels, so I don't know what makes a great one. The illustrations in this book were absolutely amazing. The story line developed rather well, although it was a little weak. The characters all had their qualities. This was a great graphic novel for me to start with because it left me wanting to purchase more. I would recommend this to anybody.
Anything Goes Trivia
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