Post by russm on Jul 20, 2016 14:19:44 GMT -5
So much goodness. My review will appear here soon
Bonus points for anyone who spots another Mystery Machine in the story...
<voiceover>several hours later our reviewer is fed, watered and ready to review</voiceover>
Well we all know the first few pages so I'll start after that. There's a bit of jumping back and forth between flashback and now which is fine as long as you pay attention. The action in The Complex steps up a few notches, we see how Fred gets injured and also the beginnings of the changes in the characters. Daphne has a breakdown at a very inappropriate time and is all but thrown in the van by Shaggy, Fred is coming out of his shell and Velma has flashes of warmth. Scooby doesn't say much, his teeth and presence do the talking here, in the fight to get into the Mystery Machine, in saving Velma than standing watch over Fred then Velma when the others are occupied. Daphne and Velma manage to share some civil words, there are some verbal fisticuffs between them but IMO things are starting to be resolved between them. It's clear Velma is not used to being in scary situations :-)
There are some gentle moments between Fred/Daphne and Shaggy/Velma. Up till now Daphne had always had a hard aspect to her features, that begins to soften in places. There is one particular panel where I have to wonder if that was necessary, a couple of on-line reviews have asked the same question.
There are some excellent panels here that really make the story pop. There are some inconsistency, at times it looks like a speech bubble is missing and in a couple of places that it was drawn by someone else (not bad but the faces and expressions look different from how they appear elsewhere. Given the little details, like a certain vehicular cameo, it is possible they are joke and nod for people to find. One thing that they will need to start to scale back on is the exposition, you can excuse it as people behave like this in stressful situations but I think they need to start toning it down and moving the dialogue onto other areas, perhaps now they are out The Complex the pace will even out and the story can come to the fore.
In conclusion, the fun continues
Bonus points for anyone who spots another Mystery Machine in the story...
<voiceover>several hours later our reviewer is fed, watered and ready to review</voiceover>
Well we all know the first few pages so I'll start after that. There's a bit of jumping back and forth between flashback and now which is fine as long as you pay attention. The action in The Complex steps up a few notches, we see how Fred gets injured and also the beginnings of the changes in the characters. Daphne has a breakdown at a very inappropriate time and is all but thrown in the van by Shaggy, Fred is coming out of his shell and Velma has flashes of warmth. Scooby doesn't say much, his teeth and presence do the talking here, in the fight to get into the Mystery Machine, in saving Velma than standing watch over Fred then Velma when the others are occupied. Daphne and Velma manage to share some civil words, there are some verbal fisticuffs between them but IMO things are starting to be resolved between them. It's clear Velma is not used to being in scary situations :-)
There are some gentle moments between Fred/Daphne and Shaggy/Velma. Up till now Daphne had always had a hard aspect to her features, that begins to soften in places. There is one particular panel where I have to wonder if that was necessary, a couple of on-line reviews have asked the same question.
There are some excellent panels here that really make the story pop. There are some inconsistency, at times it looks like a speech bubble is missing and in a couple of places that it was drawn by someone else (not bad but the faces and expressions look different from how they appear elsewhere. Given the little details, like a certain vehicular cameo, it is possible they are joke and nod for people to find. One thing that they will need to start to scale back on is the exposition, you can excuse it as people behave like this in stressful situations but I think they need to start toning it down and moving the dialogue onto other areas, perhaps now they are out The Complex the pace will even out and the story can come to the fore.
In conclusion, the fun continues