Customer Reviews

The Adventures Of Luther Arkwright

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This novel is massive: not in terms of length, but in terms of breadth. Talbot weaves a complex tale that requires some work by the reader to fully appreciate. Mysticism, alternate realities, and geo-politicial struggles all play into this story of a man realizing the responsibilities the universe expects of him. I must add that this is not a good selection for someone who has not read a few graphic novels in the past. My suggestion is to first read the sequel to this book, HEART OF EMPIRE: THE LEGACY OF LUTHER ARKWRIGHT, and then read this. The two may share some narrative elements and characters, but structurally this work is denser and requires more attentive reading.

This is simply the single most intelligent, intricate graphic novel that I have ever read. You almost go into sensory overload if you try to take it all in. It contains the most stark mixing of sacred and profane elements- and yet it works. To put it mildly, it works.

Every time you pick this book up you find something new in the complex story line or intricate artwork. Only a writer/artist could produce a work like this, for only a person who thinks in images could master the gnostic/symbolist world view that it mirrors. Here you have alternate universe after alternate universe- yet all connected by underlieing currents and patterns. As above, so below.

Oh yes, it also has a healthy amount of English working class bloody mindedness- something that we in America are becoming increasingly familiar with as the God-less corporate "upperclass" tries to turn this society into a rigid caste-based oligarchy....

We are told at Warren Ellis's website that Talbot knows nothing of comics history and yet made one of the best. It's true. There are certain stylistic faux-pas's both in the story and illustrations. Nonetheless, Talbot has single-handedly created the only comic I've ever read that was as exiting as Star Wars I. Everything is in place: Absolute Good (God) versus unthinkable Evil (Arkwright); references to traditions known from childhood done in a lyrical and hypnotic way; a bare bones plot with even barer characterization; and a refrain from a Rob Zombie song, before the particular refrain was made. (How's that for future anterior?)

If you enjoy comics, you're cheating yourself if you don't give this one a look over.

The other reviewers are right - you should read the sequel "Heat of the Empire" before this one, not because it's easier to understand than AoLA (which is true, by the way), but because the earlier series has so much more to offer. Even if you plunge into the series in the middle (which is how I discovered) and haven't a clue as to what's going on, who's who (and why?), you'll still find a mammoth epic you can't put down.

Luther Arkwright is essentially a super-being, bred to psionic perfection in an alternative universe, or a parallel. We soon learn that existence is filled with so-called parallels (a misnomer since parallel lines maintain the same direction while the alternative universes here maintain some interesting differences; the fun is trying to identify how any of the parallels resembles our own earth, only to have Talbot yank the carpet from under our feet and show us the distinctions). Two of the parallels take the focus of the story - 00, being the home of a technologically and psionically advanced civilization which tries to maintain order throughout the parallels, and 072, a parallel in which the major imperial powers of Europe remain in power through the 20th century. Using an almost sentient computer called Wotan, 00 learns of another force that shares their power to cross the multiversal divides, but does not share their benign aims. Called disruptors, the enemy searches for an ancient weapon, one that will destroy all of existence. Only Luther, whose powers and origins remain a mystery to everybody, can stop the destruction. On 072, where England remains under the rule of the fascist and theocratic puritan dictatorship led by a descendent of Oliver Cromwell, Luther meets his greatest challenge. Cromwell, we soon learn, is the disruptor agent for that parallel; Luther must maneauver to secure victory for the anti-puritan royalists without giving too much power to the royal's imperialist backers. The challenge manifests itself when Luther discovers both the limits of his powers and the signs that others like him inhabit the parallel.

The dense plot guarantees that you'll be re-reading AoLA repeatedly, that you'll be piecing it together, and that you'll soon find its BW artwork superior to the color of the sequel.

It's hard to fault someone for trying something ambitious in comics, but this just didn't work out right. It's a story of alternate realities, with the title character able to shift between them. Someone or something is threatening the whole of it, and Luther Arkwright works to save the day(s). The artwork is entirely black & white and seems to shift between a smooth, clean look and one that is almost pointillistic. The real problem, though, is the writing: not that it's bad, just that sometimes there isn't nearly enough to make sense of what's going on, and other times a page is almost entirely prose. Ultimately, the numerous shifting realities leave the book disjointed, and the writing doesn't help the reader catch up to the changing perspective. My recommendation: there is a later series called Heart of the Empire which should makes its way to the graphic novel format. Pick that up when it does, and if you want some more background information, then pick this up.

First off I'd like to state that these reviews should have half stars for a reason. As in this case it should be 3 1/2. Why I feel this piece isn't quite worth 4, I'll explain momentarily...... p.s. - I hope this reviews turns you on to some other titles you (maybe) weren't thinking about.

I'd also warn that this book may be for the advanced Graphic Novel reader only

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Like any aficionado of Graphic Novels and Comics, I'm always looking for that next thing. That new talent. Those hidden gems. After an extensive reading career that includes some of the industry standards like Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and Sandman. After falling in love with some of the new generation masterpieces that have pushed the envelope such as Preacher, New X-Men, and Transmetropolitan....

...you start to look at the writers. You start to follow their work.

Grant Morrison is a great example. All-Star Superman, Animal Man, or Arkham Asylum is like naming a Hall of Fame career with those titles alone. Other works of his including, Doom Patrol, The Invisibles, and JLA can tell you that weather you're in the mood to read an incredible re-vamp of some old classic characters or you feel like reading something original - it doesn't matter. This mans work will blow your hair back.

There are other writers in this industry who's names are almost as good as gold. If you pick something up by them your starring and holding a piece that is (more often then not) not going to disappoint.

Warren Ellis, Jeph Loeb, Neil Gaiman, Geoff Johns, Mike Mignola, Frank Miller, Mark Millar, Brian K. Vaughan, and Alan Moore to name a few, are guys who won't leave you in a sea of discontent. But will however heighten expectation, imagination, and story telling. That is what this mediums does. That is what it is meant for.

Well (and here's my point) every now and then a title or an artist or writer falls between the cracks. It is not a purposeful act from the reader, though it could be argued that some bury their head in Superhero DC/Marvel land.....I choose to believe that readers will simply find the books they need. It's just a matter of time. Maybe it's fate. It never seems to amaze me how 'just the right comic' comes along at 'just the right time' in your life. But with an industry so vast and, let's face it, intimidating - especially to new readers - there are going to be those books that.......well.......get missed.

This is where (1989) The Adventures of Luther Arkwright comes in.

In the shop a few months back a friend and I are perusing through the Graphic Novels when he just up to the top shelf with glee and pulls down The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. He gives me a brief run down of the story, how hard it is to find this book, etc. He then runs to the counter to purchase said book. Upon getting back to his place I start flipping through it and can't help but be instantly inthralled with the Art and how Talbot tells the story with his magnificent gift. The B & W art looks so good I can't imagine a man sitting down with the patience to place as much detail and imagination into a single image. I'm captivated. I come here. I pick it up.

The book is an absolute mind gem of art and storytelling. Arkwright is a (pseudo) secret agent/new age freedom fighter who wishes to abolish a totalitarian government group lead by religious extremists. Wow! Say that tens times fast.

The book takes place in a semi-futuristic world (with an old world/victorian/old english with a twist of great technology - a la League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) where Arkwright not only has to figure things out on one Earth, but has to juggle, run, chase, hide, and ally with a plethora of characters on multiple parallel Earths. Arkwright is blessed with abnormal abilities that seem to hold no bound.

No here's the only real bone I have to pick with the book. Talbot seems to be so bloody talented and smart that he appears to over indulge and it gets clustered and confusing in portions. This is a common flaw when the writer/artist is the same person. Even more so when it's an original piece and you don't have editors to keep you on the ground. But this same flaw is also what gives Arkwright it's charm, charisma, and balls as the story unfolds.

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With nothings to lose and everything to gain you should check out this book. If a friend of yours doesn't own it already then think about picking it up here. Not a bad price.

I look forward to reading the sequel Heart of Empire.

When I read a graphic novel, I absolutely can predict some cliches and stereotypes. It's the treatment of the theme and characterization and graphics that make all the difference. Seeing a white-haired guy and an impossible flying apparatus on the cover prepared me for a super-hero steam-punk mixture, of course, but I did not expect it to be so boring. The author seems to reserve all the intelligence to himself, investing none in his characters and giving no or trite development skeletons to them.

There's more to it of course.

A super-hero rising to the challenge by becoming extra-super. Intrigues that are kingergarden intense. Bodacious females throwing themselves at the hero. A near-deity concerning itself with mindless and irrelevant destruction and petty revenge. A supercomputer almost omnipotent in its all-knowingness. A dissonant cocktail of religious views mumbled in a stream of conciousness. A linear story (sans the flashbacks) wrapped in parallel realities that are not so parallel. A paradoxical keystone that drives it all...

Oh the glass is full of something, for sure. Swallowing it might be a problem.