Non-Stop Wrestling Match in an Empty Room
The story in this issue is called "Dead Set On Detruction", and was written by the infamous Rob Liefeld (one the founders of Image Comics).The story is about how a cyborg android named Overtkill comes to life (in the lab of a sinister government scientist, where a lot of Image superheroes are also hanging out), escapes from the lab, and then battles with Badrock in a series of in-your-face action fight scenes. There really is no story...it's like one continuous fight scene that goes on for 20 pages. It ends with Overtkill's head flying off of his body (it becomes like a GPS guided rocket) and crashes right into the office window of a mob boss.
The cover shows a big two fisted character named "Badrock", who looks like a combination of Marvel's "The Hulk" and "The Thing", but on 'roids. He angrily jumps out at us from the cover, bearing two massive fists, and showing off his perfect set of teeth. The cover image pretty much summarizes the issue: extreme perspective, emotional switch permanently set on "very angry", and no drawing at all in the background. The world of "Youngblood Strikefile" is like being in a non-stop wrestling match. There are a lot full page spreads and double-paged spreads of punching, where the characters fly out of the panel into your lap, but that's probably because there no story or dialogue that anyone bothered to write.
The page layouts are primarily 3-panels per page, alternating between 3 verticals side-by-side on one page, and 3 horizontals, side-by-side, on the other. The middle of the book has a 2-page spread showing Badrock (wearing a backwards baseball cap) punching Overtkill, which sends Overtkill flying.
I like how the artist (Jeff Matsuda) has created some interesting panel borders, but he doesn't do it enough. He's got as panel border made of wafting cigar smoke (something that Will Eisner might have done), and another made out of choppy jagged lines, which give the impression of being barbed wire. But that's it! Otherwise, all of the panel borders here are straightforward simple boxes (three per page, as noted previously)
Lavender, Turquoise, Blue, and Red-Orange are the colors that predominate here; very '80's colors (especially the lavender and turquoise). But the colors all have a dark cast to them, as if there were a lot of grey mixed into them. I'm sure that this is caused by using too many in layers with Photoshop; "digital painting". Everything seems to dark in tone, that the colors have all got a brownish muddy look to them; they need to be lightened up and brightened up.
The best parts of the book: the 2-page spread that introduces "Overtkill" on pages 2 and 3. That's about it. There's a lot of "extreme" action, and serious grimaces, bu the characters function in a void. There are no backgrounds, no incidental objects, no details of their lives. The dialogue sounds like it was written by kid playing with toys: "You're all too slow and soft...nothing but a bunch of wusses in fancy gear", or "who wants to die first?"
I think that Rob Liefeld really wants to make a great comic book, but his strengths are in drawing superhero characters....not in writing, nor in drawing environments. I think that some background scenery would help this comic. It would give it a sense of place. But there is no "place" in this story; the backgrounds are all bare. It makes the story feel as if it's being acted out on a Hollywood sound stage. To compensate for this, the artist (Jeff Matsuda) has chosen to have all of the fighting scenes fill the entire panel, muscling out any room for background details. The result is that you feel like you've been dropped into the middle of a wrestling match that never seems to stop. Every panel is closeup shots of fighting and mean name-calling. This book feels tough and dumb, in an empty room. with the scent of styling gel and cologne wafting off of it. How 1980's!
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