Customer Reviews

Steampunk: Manimatron

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

 

 

frankly i was surprised that this series is rated so far at five stars from every reviewer. when it was being published, it was one of the most divisive comics i can remember. everyone either loved it or hated it, and considering that it was cancelled before the story was done, i would imagine the latter outweighed the former. anyhow, i would have bought ten copies of the series myself if it would have meant the series would continue to its natural end, and i suspect most of its fans felt the same way, because this comic really was something special.

the story is great, with a protagonist you really root for, and more importantly, feel for. the premise is intriguing and engaging. and the artwork and design are astonishing.

this book's greatest strength was also its greatest weakness. a lot of people were frustrated with how complicated the book is, both in story and art. nothing is really handed to the reader at all, certainly not early on. the slowly unravelling backstory and the chaotic artwork really emphasizes the environment. the reader has to work a bit, but that's part of the fun. also, being a graphic artist myself, perhaps i have an unfair edge when it comes to deciphering and navigating chris bachalo's panels, but i didn't find it to be much work at all.

to be fair, i think only people who really cared about this book would be bothered to write a review, so you probably won't hear from the camp that found this book impenetrable, but given the sheer quality of work, i always generally dismissed those people as lazy. these people cared about what they created and it shows.

the writing is layered and thoughtful. the art is energetic, with an incredible sense of environment. this book is infinitely better than most of the generic superhero comics floating around out there with nothing to say.

The artwork in this book has only one word to describe it: Stunning. Each page is rendered masterfully by the visionary that is Chris Bachalo. The story is amazing, but it is not as easy to read as your typical book. It takes time and thought to make sense of story because there is so much on each page. While this may hinder the simple reader's enjoyment, it makes the plot so much deeper and fuels a growing respect for the creators who deserve so much more respect in the industry than they currently receive.

I've had this trade paperback in my collection for a number of years now and thought it was probably past time that I cracked it open and gave it a go. I've been a fan of artist Chris Bacahlo's work since his run on `Generation X' in the 1990s and this volume collects the beginning of an original series he created with writer Joe Kelly, set in a futuristic, science-fiction inspired steampunk version of London. I found it really heavy going and impenetrable to start with: the art is incredibly dense, each page being crammed full of detail and minutiae and the action is not always very clear (historically one of Bachalo's major weaknesses as a story-teller in my view). That said the narrative becomes more cogent with each successive chapter and I found myself quite enjoying things from about the fourth issue (there are five collected here plus a prologue - `Catechism' - and what appears to be a rough teaser - `Idiosincratica'). I've got the second and final volume of this series too and I'll continue my reading there once I've taken a bit of a breather.

I found myself disliking this comic, which is unfortunate because it was highly recommended by others as, well, 'steampunk'. I like steampunk, but I really don't like this.

This is like steampunk written by Gwar, but not nearly as tongue-in-cheek. Drama and style abound, but I cannot agree that the plot is complex. It was very disappointing.

The art and layout is highly detailed, highly colorful/inky, and reminds me quite a lot of World of Warcraft or MageKnight (miniatures). Character design is over-the-top. Unfortunately I felt like the whole thing was trying too hard to be different without first developing substance.

To be honest, by the midway point I was just hoping for:
A) An explanation without all the exposition
B) The death of most of the characters

The only positive thing I can say is that it is dripping with its own unique style, and I respect that artistic effort enough not to give it one star.

The concept was very cool, but the execution . . . not so much. Some of the frames felt so cluttered that I couldn't actually tell what was happening in them. Not good. Some of the dialogue felt like it hadn't been edited. Not good. Beyond the concept itself, I'd have to say the best thing about this graphic novel is the lettering. But that is a problem too. The lettering shouldn't steal the show. It shouldn't distract from the content of the words or the images in the frames, but this lettering did. I guess that's both a praise and a critique.

The world of Steampunk is an intoxicating realm of good and and evil redone in a fine new fashion. From artwork to story Steampunk reigns as one of the most under appreciated works in the comic world, with twists and turns, hereos and villians unlike anything you've seen or would expect. This work makes a great addition to any fans collection, an outstanding read and experience.

steampunk is a fantastic setup and concept for a comic, unlike anything before it. if it were executed in a manner that fulfilled the title's potential, it would likely be looked on as a shining (and long-running) example of the art form.

instead it was canceled after a dozen issues.

joe kelly's writing is deliberately obscure, making it difficult to immerse oneself into the story. with high-concept stories such as 'steampunk', it's vitally important that the writer provide some sort of anchor that the reader can latch on to; an 'alice' to guide him through the story's 'wonderland'. but when we're given only snippets of images to tell us who this main character is or what he's about, it becomes practically impossible to follow the disjointed narrative. multiple reads will be necessary to gain even a semblance of an understanding of the book's plot.

the artwork doesn't help much. chris bachalo's stylistic artwork is divisive, certainly, but at his best he shows talent for edgy, stylized story-telling. here, the work is muddled and often-times impossible to follow.

worse, several images throughout the book are simply copies of art from previous frames scaled to larger proportions, but keeping the same poor resolution. this isn't stylish, it's garish.

i was ready to buy this and the next steampunk tpb on concept alone, but practicality made me stop and only but manimatron before getting the second. i'm glad i did; it means i only made ONE mistake rather than two. i hope this review can help you to avoid even making the one mistake of buying this book.

This is a thought porvoking series designed to make you think and guaranteed to entertain. Be warned it's not for everyone but this highly original volume containing issues 1 thru 5 is definately worth the effort. Check it out if you want engaging original comics fiction. Steer clear if you just want the same old comics spoon fed to you on a platter.