Post by moe on Jun 29, 2011 21:31:30 GMT -5
There are very few female super heroes running around in the Marvel Universe, or any other universe for that matter, which has to make this series unique in and of itself. Putting together a title of only women is a fairly intriguing gimmick on the surface, but when I took a look at the cast I had to wonder aloud "why the hell not?" Then my girlfriend wondered why I was talking to myself, so hey, can't win for losing after all I'm the crazy person talking to my computer wondering why someone hadn't done this before.
Anyway, I digress.
I first met and started writing with Jeff in Star Trek role playing games, alongside Tony Thornley, surprisingly. And I'm not much of a trekkie either, weird huh? So, when I first heard he was writing a series of an all female cast, I wasn't honestly surprised. It's kinda his thing to write female characters very well, which it really was something surprising in that genre since not even females seem to write female star trek characters as anything more than Super Genius Sluts...Jeff always stood apart. I could think about this series in much lesser hands, and honestly looking in the mirror I'd have to say that I would do nothing convincing with this cast. Surely with people like Ian Astheimer as much of my inspiration for characterization, I'm sure I'd have to have some sort of lesbian scene somewhere in the first few issues. And then, after consulting with Brent and Chris -- My Green Lantern line co conspirators -- there would likely be genocide in Latveria, while the Avengers were off somewhere fixing the other hemisphere. But thankfully, to the lovers of these characters (fictional and living admirers) we have Jeff in control.
My favorite part of this first issue has to be the starting scene. A clever little nod to the past with little thought of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Mary Fitzgerald-Parker (yeah, that Parker). Things like this go to show Jeff's commitment to the past, and a level of detail I wish I could recall from memory at a moment’s whim. But for a student of History like Jeff, this is par for the course. These Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are people that care about their legacy as much as they care about the next mission at hand, that's a depth that I hope continues as the series continues on.
All that good stuff, there's gotta be something I didn't care for about the issue, right? Oh sure. First we have to put down that this is an introduction, a nice little start to where we don't have to sit through the usual "I must gather a team to save the world!" forced plotline. No we get right to the point, these ladies have been a functioning team for quite a while, though underfunded and underutilized, and yet they don't seem much like professional operatives. I'm certain with Jeff's track record there's going to be more to the story as it rolls out, because when Jeff writes characters they are people first and we get to explore them slowly as he pulls us through their quirks of personality. The thing about this issue that bothered me was its size. For an introductory issue, with a gimmick such as this series, it's very short. I copied it to a Word document and found it to be only six pages, but what kinda bugged me was seeing two complete scenes in my screen at one time, without having to scroll down. This is sort of a pet peeve of mine, as I think if a writer can show me a full scene in less than the confines of my laptop screen there's some detail he or she is leaving out. What is weird is that I never thought of Jeff as having that sort of problem as even his gaming posts were small novels at times. But the moment that was very hard for me to swallow was Bobbi's return. That was a little weird for me to take. I had to go over it once more just to make sure I was reading it correctly, it was fairly abrupt and I really didn't feel sure what I was reading at that point in the issue. It sort of tore me out of the environment.
As a lot of people say, we have to take the good with the bad. And there's nothing that really fails about this issue. It does its job, in a way that's somewhat unconventional with an unconventional cast. Just putting these ladies together, I'm anxious to see what Jeff has in store for these characters as I am confident they are in excellent hands. This issue isn't perfect, but it sets the stage well for the future. And that's something Jeff is all about, the long-term.
I'm looking forward to issue two, thank you Jeff.
Anyway, I digress.
I first met and started writing with Jeff in Star Trek role playing games, alongside Tony Thornley, surprisingly. And I'm not much of a trekkie either, weird huh? So, when I first heard he was writing a series of an all female cast, I wasn't honestly surprised. It's kinda his thing to write female characters very well, which it really was something surprising in that genre since not even females seem to write female star trek characters as anything more than Super Genius Sluts...Jeff always stood apart. I could think about this series in much lesser hands, and honestly looking in the mirror I'd have to say that I would do nothing convincing with this cast. Surely with people like Ian Astheimer as much of my inspiration for characterization, I'm sure I'd have to have some sort of lesbian scene somewhere in the first few issues. And then, after consulting with Brent and Chris -- My Green Lantern line co conspirators -- there would likely be genocide in Latveria, while the Avengers were off somewhere fixing the other hemisphere. But thankfully, to the lovers of these characters (fictional and living admirers) we have Jeff in control.
My favorite part of this first issue has to be the starting scene. A clever little nod to the past with little thought of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Mary Fitzgerald-Parker (yeah, that Parker). Things like this go to show Jeff's commitment to the past, and a level of detail I wish I could recall from memory at a moment’s whim. But for a student of History like Jeff, this is par for the course. These Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are people that care about their legacy as much as they care about the next mission at hand, that's a depth that I hope continues as the series continues on.
All that good stuff, there's gotta be something I didn't care for about the issue, right? Oh sure. First we have to put down that this is an introduction, a nice little start to where we don't have to sit through the usual "I must gather a team to save the world!" forced plotline. No we get right to the point, these ladies have been a functioning team for quite a while, though underfunded and underutilized, and yet they don't seem much like professional operatives. I'm certain with Jeff's track record there's going to be more to the story as it rolls out, because when Jeff writes characters they are people first and we get to explore them slowly as he pulls us through their quirks of personality. The thing about this issue that bothered me was its size. For an introductory issue, with a gimmick such as this series, it's very short. I copied it to a Word document and found it to be only six pages, but what kinda bugged me was seeing two complete scenes in my screen at one time, without having to scroll down. This is sort of a pet peeve of mine, as I think if a writer can show me a full scene in less than the confines of my laptop screen there's some detail he or she is leaving out. What is weird is that I never thought of Jeff as having that sort of problem as even his gaming posts were small novels at times. But the moment that was very hard for me to swallow was Bobbi's return. That was a little weird for me to take. I had to go over it once more just to make sure I was reading it correctly, it was fairly abrupt and I really didn't feel sure what I was reading at that point in the issue. It sort of tore me out of the environment.
As a lot of people say, we have to take the good with the bad. And there's nothing that really fails about this issue. It does its job, in a way that's somewhat unconventional with an unconventional cast. Just putting these ladies together, I'm anxious to see what Jeff has in store for these characters as I am confident they are in excellent hands. This issue isn't perfect, but it sets the stage well for the future. And that's something Jeff is all about, the long-term.
I'm looking forward to issue two, thank you Jeff.
