Stephanie Kay
Oct 14, 2007, 11:08 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0107/ExterminatorsCv13.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0107/ExterminatorsCv13t.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="The Exterminators #13"></a> Reviewer: Kevin Sutton, kevinsutton@cheerful.com
Story Title: “Lies of our Fathers, Chapter One”
Vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. God help you if all those sprinkles aren't white.
Script: Simon Oliver
Pencils: Tony Moore
Inks: Andre Parks
Colors: JD Smith
Letters: Pat Brosseau
Cover Artist: Darick Robertson
Assistant Editor: Mark Doyle
Editor: Jonathan Vankin
Published by: Vertigo/DC Comics (http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo)
Suggested for Mature Readers
The Exterminators is a book that thrives on irony and wierdness. Teddy Bears in plastic bags, literature themed bordellos, egyptian/nazi boxes --it's a credit to Simon Oliver that this book nevers seems as detached from reality as a list like that might make it seem. It's just that the Exterminators may be the best comic representation of the moral and physical underbelly of society on the stands... well that I've read at least...
Tony Moore and Andre Parks aren't designing an artistic opus with their work in the Exterminators. But it's very well rendered, characterful, and great at capturing the necessary contrasts and details of the world Oliver is creating. It's a consistency and quality that would be missed if it were gone. Further, I'm not really sure who else could be called upon to deliver this range of innocence and eww!
The Exterminators is a book that has never wanted for dramatic tension. Whether it is more immediate concerns like a river of feces, ugly people having sex, or ant madness, (A game of time and terror starring Eric Stoltz) or something more nebulous and mysterious like the Arc of the Bug-Covenant; Exterminators puts characters in danger and ratchets up the ick factor to keep the reader on their toes.
Throughout this story you can see elements of foreshadowing, contrast, duality, or whatever you want to call it. Referring to these bits by their technical names seems inappropriate for this story which is so concerned with wallowing in the dark joke of humanity. Instead the enjoyment of this story flows from shaudenfraude and our appreciation for gallows humour. Good people here are people who want normal things and who look out for each other; they're not heroes or saints, they just aren't grotesquely inhuman like Der Furher or Rat Face. (Names have been changed to protect the guilty)
The opening vignette of this issue is a warning of sorts, or perhaps just a sad observation about decieving appearances. In fact, Oliver and Moore captured the essence of this innocent/ugly switcharoo with a flourish in just the first two panels. This idea gains additional currency when you reread the issue knowing what happens at the end. It's cool, but I'm not sure whether it was appropriate to use such a device when the story seems at this point to be about fatherhood and not so much about the lies. (See the story title) Lies of our Fathers has started with an issue that is jarring, but one would be forgiven if they weren't aware of any endings or beginnings as the various threads all seem to continue through this issue as they did through the previous issues. This series seems more focussed on sequential storytelling combined with plot threads rather than story arcs. I'm certainly happy with that, and I imagine you are too. Still, I'll admit that this issue while it is memorable and well written, still may leave someone cold if they were expecting a specific direction to become apparent. Things are still germinating under the surface for the moment. Well... the inhuman things at least.
I think Vertigo has been on a tear for the past year or two. The Exterminators is a story that is both frightening and disgusting, heartful and intelligent, and quite unique. If you aren't reading it now... you still might not like it. But the appeal of this book is no naturally eclectic that anyone who's ever had a taste for the strange-but-true owes it to themselves, (if they don't owe money to someone else I guess) to give this book a look.
Somewhere between the realms of horror and black comedy lies a book that specializes in putting the ugliest face on the most innocent and the prettiest dress on the most disturbed. The Exterminators probably killed it and violated the corpse with a stick.
RATING:
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BUY this issue at X-WORLD and SAVE! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=2130&cat=EXTERMINATORS)
Story Title: “Lies of our Fathers, Chapter One”
Vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. God help you if all those sprinkles aren't white.
Script: Simon Oliver
Pencils: Tony Moore
Inks: Andre Parks
Colors: JD Smith
Letters: Pat Brosseau
Cover Artist: Darick Robertson
Assistant Editor: Mark Doyle
Editor: Jonathan Vankin
Published by: Vertigo/DC Comics (http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo)
Suggested for Mature Readers
The Exterminators is a book that thrives on irony and wierdness. Teddy Bears in plastic bags, literature themed bordellos, egyptian/nazi boxes --it's a credit to Simon Oliver that this book nevers seems as detached from reality as a list like that might make it seem. It's just that the Exterminators may be the best comic representation of the moral and physical underbelly of society on the stands... well that I've read at least...
Tony Moore and Andre Parks aren't designing an artistic opus with their work in the Exterminators. But it's very well rendered, characterful, and great at capturing the necessary contrasts and details of the world Oliver is creating. It's a consistency and quality that would be missed if it were gone. Further, I'm not really sure who else could be called upon to deliver this range of innocence and eww!
The Exterminators is a book that has never wanted for dramatic tension. Whether it is more immediate concerns like a river of feces, ugly people having sex, or ant madness, (A game of time and terror starring Eric Stoltz) or something more nebulous and mysterious like the Arc of the Bug-Covenant; Exterminators puts characters in danger and ratchets up the ick factor to keep the reader on their toes.
Throughout this story you can see elements of foreshadowing, contrast, duality, or whatever you want to call it. Referring to these bits by their technical names seems inappropriate for this story which is so concerned with wallowing in the dark joke of humanity. Instead the enjoyment of this story flows from shaudenfraude and our appreciation for gallows humour. Good people here are people who want normal things and who look out for each other; they're not heroes or saints, they just aren't grotesquely inhuman like Der Furher or Rat Face. (Names have been changed to protect the guilty)
The opening vignette of this issue is a warning of sorts, or perhaps just a sad observation about decieving appearances. In fact, Oliver and Moore captured the essence of this innocent/ugly switcharoo with a flourish in just the first two panels. This idea gains additional currency when you reread the issue knowing what happens at the end. It's cool, but I'm not sure whether it was appropriate to use such a device when the story seems at this point to be about fatherhood and not so much about the lies. (See the story title) Lies of our Fathers has started with an issue that is jarring, but one would be forgiven if they weren't aware of any endings or beginnings as the various threads all seem to continue through this issue as they did through the previous issues. This series seems more focussed on sequential storytelling combined with plot threads rather than story arcs. I'm certainly happy with that, and I imagine you are too. Still, I'll admit that this issue while it is memorable and well written, still may leave someone cold if they were expecting a specific direction to become apparent. Things are still germinating under the surface for the moment. Well... the inhuman things at least.
I think Vertigo has been on a tear for the past year or two. The Exterminators is a story that is both frightening and disgusting, heartful and intelligent, and quite unique. If you aren't reading it now... you still might not like it. But the appeal of this book is no naturally eclectic that anyone who's ever had a taste for the strange-but-true owes it to themselves, (if they don't owe money to someone else I guess) to give this book a look.
Somewhere between the realms of horror and black comedy lies a book that specializes in putting the ugliest face on the most innocent and the prettiest dress on the most disturbed. The Exterminators probably killed it and violated the corpse with a stick.
RATING:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vnone.jpg
BUY this issue at X-WORLD and SAVE! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=2130&cat=EXTERMINATORS)