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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Snowtown gives me Nightmares - Seriously, June 8, 2007
With Fell writer Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, The Authority) and artist Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) have created a dark and eerie mindscape called Snowtown, a twisted part of some larger city that exists "across the bridge," a city which is only hinted at but never elaborated upon in the stories. What the reader immediately comes to realise is that Detective Richard Fell, the main character, has been given little choice in the matter of becoming Snowtown's newest detective, and must deal with crimes both strange and shocking on a daily basis, which puts his remarkable detective skills to the test in every stand-alone issue. Brilliantly written by Warren Ellis, the stories are often bizarre and gruesome, but not over-the-top, and Templesmith's art complements these sinister tales nicely. There is nothing supernatural about these stories, yet the reader gets the sense that some larger power (dare I say Lovecraftian?) is looming in the shadows, causing the evil that permeates every alley of Snowtown. Its not all about detective work either. There are times when Fell has to get hands-on with some of the perps and what follows are violent action scenes rendered splendidly by Templesmith' s use of blurred images that does not detract from the clarity of his panels. True, he is not known as a highly detailed artist, but some panels are remarkable because they require small details (like any detective novel or comic) and Templesmith shows that he is up to the challenge of conveying them to the reader. My favorite story is the last one contained in this volume, which gives the reader a view of Snowtown through the journal/diary entries of Detective Fell, and all the horrible things that can happen there in a single night. Awesome book. I recommend it to anyone who loves horror/mystery comics, or just plain anyone who has never read a comic before and finds the idea of superheroes just a little bit silly. Pick up Fell: Feral City. You won't be disappointed! (I should mention though, that I still love the silliness of superhero comics...)
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark, Moody, Disturbing, Fascinating...a look into the Dark Human Heart, August 12, 2007
I noticed issue #1 of this comics series at my local comics store and, though at that time I had never heard of Ellis or Templesmith, I was attracted to it simply by the beauty and atmosphere of the cover.
When I read the first issue, I was hooked, and began to get the following ones. Then, I decided to wait for the bound edition, and pre-ordered it as soon as amazon.com allowed. Only cause I prefer bound to individual. Easier to shelve for me.
This series grabbed me because the art got my interest. I like Templesmith's style. I'm not art major or historian, so don't ask me to explain what it's like. Do a google and find panel examples from the series. It's a very evocative style, with this really cool use of colors that pop for emphasis--red in this panel, white in those.
It's the story of a cop who--and we don't know why--has done something that he thinks is right (but got him into trouble) in his previous town and is sent "across the bridge" to Snowtown. Snowtown is like the worst urban landscape from various major cities mashed together. No one seems to be undamaged. No one seems to be normal. Fell seems to be the most together of the lot, but he's harboring dark bits, although we sense a moral core. Or, as Mayko, his barkeeper girlfriend says, he's a good man--but one who sometimes does not so good things for the right reasons, we sense and, later, see.
He lives in a place void of real light--Snowtown seems to be enshrouded with some miasma of muted colors. His boss is a loony. There are only a couple other detectives (3 and a half to be precise, cause one lost his legs) on the Snowtown force. But Fell becomes a one-man crusade to make a damn difference. And we see him solving cases using his key talent: the ability to read people. He's observant and he's somewhat fearless. And Snowtown needs him.
But there may be something very much larger than Fell and darker than night hovering over this accursed place, that does make one think of hell.
But the worst parts of urban environments can seem like hell to its residents and the cops who have to work the darkness.
I really want to see where the characters of Fell and Mayko go, and what is the thing that controls this Inferno.
Interesting stuff. Visually very cool and very noir.
Mir
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Starts a little slow, but picks up, June 11, 2007
I bought this based off a review I heard on a podcast. They loved it, so I thought I would see what all the fuss was about. I was a little disappointed because I felt it started off a little slow. I'm not sure how to describe it, something just wasn't working right, but by the time I got to issue 4 this book was hitting on all cylinders. While each issue is a single story, Ellis has managed to give us an intriguing overall story arch as well. The relationships between the main characters, the mystery of what brought Detective Fell to Snowtown in the first place, and that creepy, creepy nun are all issues that run through the individual stories. Very well done, give it a chance and don't just walk away if the first few stories don't work for you, it gets much better.
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