Killapalooza #2 (DC/WIldstorm – Beechen / Hairsine)
You’ve never seen anything like a rock band that moonlights as a super-powered assassination squad! Superstar noisemakers The Clap thought they were the only ones, but apparently there’s at least one more – and they’ve both marked the honoree of a benefit concert as their next target! If The Clap can survive a death trap laid by their mystery rivals, they’ll face their greatest challenge yet – a dinner for the concert’s sponsor! The world’s biggest music stars and their egos in the same room? Expect mayhem and murder with your shrimp cocktail!
So, I jumped on board with Killapalooza on accounta Trevor Hairsine’s art. And you can’t deny your a little curious about a rock band/covert superpowered assination squad? My partner asked what I was thinking when I ordered it. I said ya never know. Who would have guessed a devil child destined to destroy the world turned good working for a secret paranormal protection agency would fly? or a, well you get the idea.
Sometimes the weirder the better (sometimes not by the way also).
But after issue #2 Killapalooza falls into the sometimes not category. Good weird premise with potential. The first problem is, well, none of the characters are likeable. And while I think you can do books about characters who aren’t likable (Watchmen), there has to be something interesting about them to make you continue to read. Well, really, these characters aren’t likable and they don’t really have anything interesting about them. None of them are even particularly cool and none of them are funny.
My second whining point is there are way, way too many narration boxes letting me know what is going on. It is of course a first person narrator, and as I said above, none of the characters are engaging, so neither is their narration. I was painful work slogging throug it all.
Third, while there is nothing wrong with the plot, it is generally cliche and uninspired. Scenes aren’t crafted for dramatic or humorous effect, they are just thrown out there and rushed through to get to the next plot point. . There’s a scene when comic relief guy is handcuffed to a bed while they are deciding their plan of action and that comic situation is complete neglected until a weak one liner at the end. A waste of a good guy strapped to the bed scene, I say. The main antagonists, a competing covert action super powered rock star team drop their hotel room key after an ambush. This tells me either the antagonists suck, or it’s a trap. The sad fact is our heroes never consider it a trap, which means well..they suck. But hey it keeps the plot moving.
Trevor Hairsine’s are is not on par with say his ‘Ultimate Nightmare’ stuff. First off it’s uninked pencils, which as you know, I consider sacrelidge. but their not just pencils, their muddy and fuzzy pencils, they just didn’t reproduce very cleanly. On top of that the story telling is a bit weak, where folks are in relation to each other and even who they are is sometimes sketchy. There are couple of absolutely awesome panels, but certainly not $3 worth of awesome panels.
So, good try, but ultimately forgettable.
Story C
Art C+
