One thing that I find incredibly annoying in the comics industry is front covers, you should definitely never judge a comic book by its cover, because comic book covers LIE. If you buy a comic because the cover shows superguy punching a dragon in the mouth in the middle of an Italian restaurant with spaghetti down his face, chances are it doesn’t happen inside. Though it’d be ace…
Take Aspen, like Top Cow I have ignored many Aspen releases because of their habit of sticking impossibly well endowed, half naked women on their front covers. I don’t know what it says about me, but that is the best way of turning me off a comic. If it’s relying on the female form to sell copies, for me it implies juvenile gratuity with little if any substance… and that’s why I’ve never read Fathom before.
You know what? The front covers lie.
Without any prior knowledge of the story or the characters, I really enjoyed this comic, and it had none of what’s implied by the cover. The story was really cool, a lot of it probably went over my head but at the heart of it was the story of this bloke called Absiloma, who goes off to save his wife from a God he and his culture worship.
“Of course, I’m not quite sure who to pray to anymore. Who do you pray to when your Gods have become your enemies?”
Cool. There’s also a nod to Rosemary’s Baby, which is always awesome.
There’s a thought-panel narrative running throughout the issue, which is a bit of a shortcut in terms of letting you know some back story, acting as a PREVIOUSLY! On Fathom… It can get a bit cheesy and sometimes a little disjointed, but is mostly used to good effect. Without it I think I would’ve been completely lost in continuity.
The dialogue flows pretty well, there’s a great bit where the protagonist gets told off by this other guy for being a crap husband, which he regrettably agrees is the truth. It’s nice that he didn’t think to himself “I wish I’d been a better husband to my wife and I only realise it now that she’s been abducted by some crazy monsters and I might die”, so the exposition is well hidden inside believable dialogue.
The art is really… blue. Beautiful, but really dark blue. It’s set deep underwater so that’s no surprise, and never forgetting you’re submerged makes the whole thing incredibly immersive, which is exactly what’s needed for an escapist medium. The action is the only thing truly lacking from the issue, and I think more panels should’ve been committed to padding it out. Everytime something kicks off (though it looks cool), the focus shifts to a completely different character in a whole different place, which makes the danger seem harmless. I don’t know if I’d feel differently having read previous issues, but I definitely felt ripped off every time the action was brushed over.
So, I’ll probably pick up Fathom from now on, it left me wanting to know the bigger picture. I’ll try to ignore the covers though they do bother me, but if Mindfield and Lady Mechanika are anything to go by, Aspen might be starting to rely more heavily on their awesome comics and less on their girly covers. Hopefully.
Joe Innes.
