Change #1

This week my good friends over at Image Comics released #1 of a 4 issue mini-series 'Change'. All I can say is 'Huh?'. Check out Image's description of the series:

"A foul-mouthed struggling screenwriter who moonlights as a car thief. An obscenely wealthy rapper completely disconnected from the real world. A dying cosmonaut on his way back to Earth.

Los Angeles is being toyed with by destructive forces that repeatedly find the city through time and swallow it whole, and those three are the only people able to save it - if they survive the fanatics who live in the hills, National Security Agency agents, and the horrors that lurk in the Pacific Ocean"

So back to my earlier comment...Huh? It's safe to say that 'Change' is fairly confusing. The main characters - rapper turned film producer Wallace (W-2) and a foul-mouthed screenwriter Sonia are presented instantaneously, and we already see that they have some sort of relationship (to what extent is still unclear). Then there's the unknown astronaut returning from a mission to Jupiter, and this opens to doors for a whole lot of possibilities. And what started off as a not so simple story about fame begins to develop into an even more confusing story of space and fantasy.

It takes a couple of pages to discern the tone of voice and who the hell is narrating. I'm still unsure as to whether or not the reader is meant to keep guessing, or if the story itself is a story of a story as written by a 'real life' screen writer. I can kinda of see what they're trying to do with this comic - taking a more creative edge, with elements of a 'love story' somewhere in there through a series of ambiguous dialogue. But I also detected a hint of Bret Easton Ellis, with what I read as the criticisms of 'celebrity' and 'fame' and even a couple of cameos (Chris Brown and Jack Nicholson...not in person)

As you can probably tell, I found it quite tricky to follow Ales Kot's dialogue and train of thought. But I did warm to the way in which Kot's has his characters deal with the horrible situations they find themselves in, and you can see that there is more to Sonia and W-2 than meets the eye, and that these aren't your typical writer, rapper stereotypes.

I quite like the artwork of Morgan Jeske as its a nice departure from the more defined works of the Marvel, Dark Horse, DC and Image comics that i'm currently reading. But it's definitely an acquired taste, but it's not distracting me too much from the story...to be honest it's the only thing that makes sense for me at the moment. Although it does get a bit confusing and jumbled towards the end of the issue, and I can see what effect they were going for, but to be honest it's one that you can only really get away with on the big screen. And what in the hell are those things on Sonia's face?!

Although i'm pretty damn confused about where the hell this is heading, I am pretty intrigued to see whats coming next. It's only a mini-series so there isn't much to lose. Change #1 definitely stands out from the crowd, and has the potential to be something bigger.

What would doom do?
He'd try and finish this joke... "A screenwriter, a rapper and an astronaut walk into a bar..."