GOLGOTHA review
(Reviewed by Melody Werner)
Golgotha is a 2017 science-fiction original graphic novel co-published by Top Cow Productions and Image Comics. Co-written by Matt Hawkins & Bryan Edward Hill, and penciled by Yuki Saeki, and funded through Kickstarter. I admire Hawkins after having read some interviews where he talked about his history as a publisher, and I always want to support good crowdfunded comics, good original graphic novels, and good Image comics, so this seemed right up my alley. I read this in about an hour and a half today. So, I think that this is a very smart comic and another in an ever-increasing list of addictive Image comics, but it feels a bit off, a bit mechanical.
The art varies throughout the book. Sometimes it's breathtaking, others it's a bit too sketchy and kinda um... not brilliant. Science fiction is so very ripe as a setting/theme for comic illustrations, and I do think that Saeki does nail it for the most part. There are some spacescapes which are just mwah. Enough credit cannot be given to the colorist, Brian Valenza, who does a superb job. The cover by Raffaele Ienco is nice, though I think that the series logo is extremely uninspired and amateurish, considering that this is a series co-published by two pretty massive publishers. Nevertheless, the interior lettering is solid. Nicely stylized, easy to read. Sequential reading flow is good, everything is easy to read and not jumbled up by some amateurish comics.
The writing is where this book becomes hard for me to critique. The narrative itself is fantastic, and extremely unpredictable. Though there is a pretty major plot hole towards the end, and the conclusion itself is very underwhelming and sequel-bait, this is a book which really caught me off-guard. At first I thought it'd be like that shitty movie Passengers, then I thought it'd be like GI Joe or Alien, and then I thought it'd be like Arrival. It's actually not like any of them, in its totality. It's refreshing to see a comic which so completely does away with narrative expectations. However, my real problem comes in the characters--while they are, on paper, quite interesting, a lot of them are as dull as dishwater. The main character is a keen example, he's got no personality other than soldier-man. The ones who do sound interesting when you write their personas down actually came across as incoherent and inconsistent, without believable character development. The dialogue is very mechanical, while a lot of the concepts which the dialogue brings up are fascinating, the dialogue itself is so very stiff and inorganic that it weighs down the intrigue (and the back-matter for this book is also worth the read for anyone who wants some nice scientific facts and such). As I mentioned in the preface, I found Golgotha to be incredibly absorbing and addictive reading, much because of the pacing and fascinating concepts. I read this so quickly because this book is all killer, no filler. Very nicely paced, very easy to read and get into for about 90 minutes.
Golgotha is a pleasant read, not without its problems. It does bring up the question, "Can a fantastic story survive with boring characters?" I would say yes, though it does damage the story's impact. I didn't really get so into this book that I was rooting for anybody, as I would in something like Saga or The Astounding Wolf-Man. But I did quite enjoy my time reading it, so while much of this review may seem negative, I do think that the pros outweigh the cons. I just think that this had a lot more potential and is slightly disappointing. Golgotha gets an 8/10.
Solid
Summary:
An incredibly good story and nice art burdened with mediocre characters, terrible dialogue, and a conclusion which leaves much t o be desired.
(originally posted: 12/6/2017)
Golgotha is a 2017 science-fiction original graphic novel co-published by Top Cow Productions and Image Comics. Co-written by Matt Hawkins & Bryan Edward Hill, and penciled by Yuki Saeki, and funded through Kickstarter. I admire Hawkins after having read some interviews where he talked about his history as a publisher, and I always want to support good crowdfunded comics, good original graphic novels, and good Image comics, so this seemed right up my alley. I read this in about an hour and a half today. So, I think that this is a very smart comic and another in an ever-increasing list of addictive Image comics, but it feels a bit off, a bit mechanical.
The art varies throughout the book. Sometimes it's breathtaking, others it's a bit too sketchy and kinda um... not brilliant. Science fiction is so very ripe as a setting/theme for comic illustrations, and I do think that Saeki does nail it for the most part. There are some spacescapes which are just mwah. Enough credit cannot be given to the colorist, Brian Valenza, who does a superb job. The cover by Raffaele Ienco is nice, though I think that the series logo is extremely uninspired and amateurish, considering that this is a series co-published by two pretty massive publishers. Nevertheless, the interior lettering is solid. Nicely stylized, easy to read. Sequential reading flow is good, everything is easy to read and not jumbled up by some amateurish comics.
The writing is where this book becomes hard for me to critique. The narrative itself is fantastic, and extremely unpredictable. Though there is a pretty major plot hole towards the end, and the conclusion itself is very underwhelming and sequel-bait, this is a book which really caught me off-guard. At first I thought it'd be like that shitty movie Passengers, then I thought it'd be like GI Joe or Alien, and then I thought it'd be like Arrival. It's actually not like any of them, in its totality. It's refreshing to see a comic which so completely does away with narrative expectations. However, my real problem comes in the characters--while they are, on paper, quite interesting, a lot of them are as dull as dishwater. The main character is a keen example, he's got no personality other than soldier-man. The ones who do sound interesting when you write their personas down actually came across as incoherent and inconsistent, without believable character development. The dialogue is very mechanical, while a lot of the concepts which the dialogue brings up are fascinating, the dialogue itself is so very stiff and inorganic that it weighs down the intrigue (and the back-matter for this book is also worth the read for anyone who wants some nice scientific facts and such). As I mentioned in the preface, I found Golgotha to be incredibly absorbing and addictive reading, much because of the pacing and fascinating concepts. I read this so quickly because this book is all killer, no filler. Very nicely paced, very easy to read and get into for about 90 minutes.
Solid
Summary:
An incredibly good story and nice art burdened with mediocre characters, terrible dialogue, and a conclusion which leaves much t o be desired.
(originally posted: 12/6/2017)
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