Aron Warner’s brainchild debuts today under the title Pariah, and I have to say, the cover is absolutely metal. As for the rest, I don’t know yet, but I’m prepared to find out. Is it good?
Pariah #1 (Dark Horse Comics)
Vitros, a program that pretty much sends nerds into space, has a crew up high in the galaxy onboard a space ship that’s about to burn up. The pilots are freaking out, conspiracies are popping up and there is a whole lot of anxiety in general. Pariah #1 gives us a good notion of what the series is going to be like the whole way, for better or worse, by throwing readers into a hectic, chaotic situation right from the get-go.
I really couldn’t get into this opening issue, and that can be attributed to a number of different things. For starters, I don’t love the idea of beginning a story that should be pretty fast-moving with a character monologuing. Most of the issue is accompanied by the main character’s thoughts as he introduces us to himself and explains the situation through his eyes. This really takes away from the action and is far from an original concept. It doesn’t make it any better that the character himself is kind of bland and provides an uninspiring perspective on the events taking place.
Pariah #1 also suffers from a problem that I have never seen in all my comic reading adventure; while it is a very fast-paced story, one that relies on the action much more than the talking, it is somehow slowed down at certain points. The monologue gets heavy, there are sporadic (but lengthy) bouts of technobabble, dispensable dialogue and parts where you have to retrace and read over parts that don’t totally make sense. Because of these impediments to the storytelling, the tale doesn’t flow as well as it could, which is a pity because it is a story worth telling.
I also find the artwork quite distracting from the story. Because it is so washy and ethereal, crucial movements and facial expressions of the characters are lost and we have to rely more heavily on the words to tell the story. I totally dig the lighting and glow effects but then I flip the page and find wonky anatomy and derpy faces and am just confused and bothered. Instead of enhancing the story, the artwork makes the comic kind of uncomfortable to read. The art by itself would be beautiful, but it doesn’t really work sequentially.
Is It Good?
Pariah #1 has a good heart and an intruiging story, and that aspect of it I enjoyed. However, certain storytelling devices were hindering to the story the creators were trying to get across, making the read uncomfortable and kind of bland.
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