One of Oni Press' earliest and most acclaimed books returns in a brand new re-mastered and re-formatted edition!
You can't get any further down than the bottom of the world - Antarctica. Cold, desolate, nothing but ice and snow for miles and miles. Carrie Stetko is a U.S. Marshal, and she's made The Ice her home. In its vastness, she has found a place where she can forget her troubled past and feel at peace... Until someone commits a murder in her jurisdiction and that peace is shattered. The murderer is one of five men scattered across the continent, and he has more reason to hide than just the slaying. Several ice samples were taken from the area around the body, and the depth of the drilling signifies something particular was removed. Enter Lily Sharpe, who wants to know what was so important another man's life had to be taken for it. But are either of the women prepared for the secrets and betrayals at the core of the situation?
Honey, I shrunk the book. ^ Above average writing and drawing, but the visual impact is reduced because the publisher decided to reduce the page size by about an inch in both directions. That's a huge difference in visual clarity. Remember the comics wrapped around Bazooka bubblegum? It's like that. Why would the publisher take a superior book, brag about the digital remastering, and then shrink/sink the result? Bet they saved a few $ on printing costs.
HOW MUCH CAN YOU SAY ABOUT ANARTICA? ^ Like I stated in the "TITLE"These two volumes pretty much sums up the available story lines contained there in. ITS cold and snowy, oh by the way did I mention that's ITSCOLDANDSNOWY!!?? The art work is pretty decent and the story lines are pretty much what what you would expect using such a setting. The lead character,a hardened Jodi Foster, "Silence of the Lambs" type deserves more varied settings if future stories are to be considered.She's interesting,Flawed,Kicked around by a higher power, but , yet she still retains a sense of fair play and justice. Watch for the Movie "WHITE OUT" just released this past weekend. 9/12/09 Sincerely, LARRY "O" ,Pgh., Pa.
Disappointing; unlikeable characters ^ I was excited to read this graphic novel in anticipation of the movie. I found the characters so unlikeable that I almost did not finish reading it, but I stuck it out in case I wanted to see the movie. Readers should be aware that this is very much an "R"-rated novel and it appears the movie decided to follow suit, which is another disappointment for me.
Awesome read! ^ Excellent graphic novel. Easy to read, compelling plot, artwork was fantastic. I'm a big fan of murder mysteries and serial killer plots, so this book was perfect. Look forward to reading more of Rucka's work.
Lost interest, traded it in ^ I wanted to like it. Really, I did. But right after I initially began reading it, picking up and reading this graphic novel felt more like a chore. My interest died about one third of the way in and I just could not compel myself to go further.
I found the main character, U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko, to be childish at best, irritating at worst; therefore, I just could not muster any desire to care about her or her conflicts; hence,
I did not find the mystery behind the killings portrayed in Antarctica to be compelling. I'm uncertain whether this was due to a flaw in pacing or narrative structure, which failed to drag me into the main conflict quickly enough to become irrevocably immersed in the author's fiction, or just my lack of care for the main character that carried over to the story as a whole.
Or maybe it was the artwork...
The story is set in Antarctica and is illustrated in black and white, "pencils only". I thought this would set the right tone for the story, in fact, it was a major factor in deciding to purchase this graphic novel in the first place; however, although a few panels do manage to drive home the environment's barren landscape and appropriate feelings of isolation, on the whole, the drawings felt crowded and somehow "dirty", for lack of a better word. At times, too many of what should have been background details within a panel were overdrawn, making certain scenes seem manic. I believe a stripped down, understated drawing style would have been more successful. These issues only managed to further blow my focus on the story.
It is my understanding the original series was printed at a slightly larger size than this edition. Scaling down the artwork could easily account for it appearing crowded, dirty and a slew of my other criticisms; however, since this is the currently available edition, they remain inexcusable.
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