Station #1 and High Rollers#1
By Graig Kent

Two new books from Boom Studios hit the stands recently, vastly different in plot, but connected by something other than just a common publisher. Station is written by TV scribe Johanna Stokes and High Rollers is written by author Gary Phillips… both writers’ names you will notice are preceded by qualifiers. Neither is promoted as a native comics writer, which puts into mind various rants across the internet about how writers from other mediums have taken over comics, how comics are having a rough time cultivating new, comics-devoted writing talent. I must agree that it has become commonplace for authors (ex. Brad Meltzer) and TV people (ex. Allan Heinberg) and movie people (ex. John Rogers) to be the few new faces in mainstream comics, what I am deign to forget is that these people are writers, first and foremost, and that as a writer I would hate to be forever pigeonholed in one medium, unable to write in any other venue.

That said, comic books are a unique format, and like every other medium has its own strengths and weaknesses. It’s why taking a story from comics to film, or vice versa requires adaptation, not direct translation, which is why most comic book adaptations of movies (and vice versa) aren’t all that great. As a writer, the mindset for telling a prose story must be different than telling an illustrated story. Same for writing for stage, or screen (large or small). Each has their own challenges and you can’t just take a screenplay and plop it into a comic book and have it work. At the same time, some writers are only strong writing in one medium, they’ve honed their skills to the medium that earns them a living, so it’s easy to see why so many writers fail when they try to move from novels to movies or TV to comics.

Johanna Stokes, noted primarily for her work on TV’s Eureka, also has an respectable amount of comic book work with Boom Studios under her belt as well. Station is her latest, a high-concept murder mystery in close quarters which sounds like an undeniably tempting movie pitch. On the international space station, a spacewalk has gone wrong and a member of the station is lost to the void. When another astronaut discovers evidence indicating that it may not have been an accident, but sabotage - or murder - only someone from the small crew could be to blame. This first issue introduces the cast and snippets of personality and conflict, but moreover introduces the concept.

Station is indeed an engaging story idea, taking a “locked-room” mystery and putting it in a setting where, without a shadow of a doubt, no outside influence could penetrate. Stokes executes the concept reasonably well, although I found the reveal and examination of the “murder weapon” to be handled too cleanly. At times I couldn’t escape the feeling that this was a screenplay turned into a comic book for proof of concept purposes. The dialogue is also at times stilted and doesn’t always flow in proper rhythm with the imagery. Some character moments as well feel like they would work better acted out rather than static on the page.

Stokes is paired with a young artistic talent Leno Carvalho who has some definite skills. His international space station is populated with immense amount of detailing, the reader never feeling removed from the environment, and he fits his figures nicely within the confined space giving it a claustrophobic sensibility, while still allowing for movement. Carvalho’s compositional sense is strong, pages 9 through 11 where the astronaut drifts off into the distance (10-11 is a two-page spread) is stunning and very effective. Carvalho’s rendering is very, shall we say, Brazilian. There’s a sensibility that he brings to shadows, figures and detail, as well as the weight of his line that is shared by other Brazilian talents like Ivan Reis and Mike Deodato Jr. Though his characters lose some consistency in appearance from time to time, overall, the book looks very good.

Over on High Rollers, things don’t fare as well. Gary Phillips introduces us to CQ, a former soldier now working as an enforcer for an LA kingpin. CQ isn’t just a thug, though, and he doesn’t just follow orders. His individuality and penchant for thinking makes him a liability, and his boss seems to be playing angles to get CQ arrested or killed. His life only gets more complicated when his estranged sister re-appears asking for his assistance in getting her husband out of trouble with some bookies he owes money to, and his straight-laced college friend asks to get in on the action.

The story of High Rollers seems forced, primarily because we only see Trey superficially, we’re given little insight into his character. He’s obviously intelligent, even somewhat compassionate, and as an ex-soldier we know he’s capable of a lot, so how did he wind up where he is? Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be something the book wants to answer, but instead asks us to accept. If the book has one thing going for it, it’s that a lot is going on, all of which CQ is involved in. Friends, family, cops, kidnapping and hits… how all these disparate elements come together (or if they actually do) is indeed intriguing.

High Rollers doesn’t feel like prose-turned-comic, but it still feels like Phillips is figuring out comic book scripting, but part of that may be the visuals impacting the story, as the biggest hindrance to the storytelling is the art by Sergio Martin Carrera. Though impeccably clean, it gives the appearance of photo-referenced or photo-manipulated art. The backgrounds are spare to non-existent and the figures are stiff which incorrectly makes the dialogue rigid, each panel seeming like a freeze-frame. There’s no natural movement between panels or pages and the obviousness of the referencing is distracting (one scene actually takes place in the diner from Pulp Fiction).

Neither book is a pinnacle of the form, though each has their enjoyable elements. The writers behind each have solid, entertaining ideas and a story to tell, if not yet the refined sensibilities of comic book authoring to tell them completely clean within.

Station


THREE AND A HALF OUT OF FIVE VIKINGS

High Rollers


TWO AND A HALF OUT OF FIVE VIKINGS