Life In Four Colors Book Review:
Fallen Justice #3
Someone once said "There's nothing new under the sun." And I'm betting whoever first said that more than likely heard somebody else say something like "everything worth doing has already be done" which in turn may have been inspired by "there's no such thing as an original story."
And sometimes that seems to be true. I mean anybody else but me remember summers gone by with films like "Mission to Mars" being released at pretty much the same time as the film "Red Planet"? What about "Super Nova" and "Event Horizon", "The Illusionist" and "The Prestige" or "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon"?
Sometimes the very same thing rings true when it comes to comics as well.
"Identity Crisis" and "Identity Disc" both released pretty much the same time.
And recently stories about an iconic super-hero figure falling from grace turning against the people he once loved, and the planet he once protected...or a super-hero learning he is dying so he plans to take out as many villains as he can before his own ticket is punched seem to be popping up all over.
There's Irredeemable over at Boom....or Destroyer produced by Marvel. And Then there's Fallen Justice produced by Red Handed Studios.
And I'm not knocking Irredeemable or Destroyer. I'm reading both books and liking both books. One's written by Mark Waid...the other written by Robert Kirkman.
One would think that the third entry in this slugfest would feel like they brought a knife to a gun fight.
But I don't think that Carey Kelley, Steven Forbes, Harold Edge, and Ross Hughes buy into any of the above cliche hinged sayings. I believe they live by yet another one.
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of fight in the dog."
Fallen Justice #3 continues to blow me away and I can honestly say if I had to pick just one of these three books to read....Fallen Justice wins. Easily.
I mean with quotes from Steel Dragon, villains like The Mob and Comedy. Characters like Prometheus and Emily Werner and a writer that gets so excited about his story he forgets to name it...it kinda leaves the other two behind just a little.
This book is what any independent comic should strive to be. Compelling thought provoking, action packed. Beautifully illustrated, crammed with real emotion (and we're talking about laugh out moments...to Aw Jesus the $#it is really gonna hit the fan now scenes.)
And it comes out on a very regular schedule.
Not even mainstream books seem capable of pulling that stunt off in most cases.
Believable characters in a believable situation...makes you forget this is a super-hero story. And that's the clincher.
It's not a super-hero story any more than Walking Dead is a zombie story. It's something else. It goes beyond the story engine that drives it. It puts the reader in a situation that makes him or her check their own moral compass three or four times an issue.
That's the secret behind the success of the Walking Dead. That's exactly what Kelley and company are doing with this book.
Issue # 3 of this series is better than the two before, and for the life of me I can't figure out how the book continues to top itself every thirty days, yet another trait it shares with Kirkman's Walking Dead.
And the glimpse at what lies ahead in issue #4....the train keeps a rollin' all nite long baby!
And what makes this book so great doesn't stop with the last page of story and art. Perhaps the extra feather in the cap that would make me pick only this book out of the three similar books being produced right now is what comes after the story is done.
The Destroyer gives you nothing more after the last page cliffhanger. Irredeemable usually wastes another six pages or so in promo stuff. Fallen Justice gives you the heart and soul of the creator behind the book. Be it response to letters written by fans or stories about how the autistic child of friend makes it through a challenging day with his love of comics.
Kelley also with this issue hints at what is to come after this book reaches it's end. A Dyna-Girl series by the same creative team featuring the love interest of the main character of this book. There is no doubt in my mind that after this story concludes Kerri's life (Dyna-Girl) is going be changed forever.
It's obvious that Carey really likes this character...so much so her name appears to be a play on his own....can't wait to see what happens next.
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www.redhandedstudios.com
Bill Gladman - Bill is a writer and illustrator and currently working on several different projects including the first issue of an ongoing comic book series (Prodigy), an illustrated fantasy novel (The Book of Noheim), and the first of four illustrated science fiction/fantasy novels (Jack the Rabbit, Living Legend of the Purple Plains) as well as a light-hearted on going mini-comic (Three Wise Men). Bill also pens a column for Comic Related and will be doing a mix of regional convention coverage.
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