Broken Frontier

Mike Carey brings a bit of variety to the Marvel U., with his new story about high school kids, the pains of growing up, and how to deal with being a witch.

First the reader is introduced to Foley and Knox, two high school students sneaking into the library to conduct some sort of mystical summoning. As can be expected, it doesn’t end well. Then we meet Kim as she and her family are making a cross country trek to Salem, MA. (This is only known if you read the preview for the book as nothing is stated within its contents about location.) The family has had some trouble in their old life and they are now making a new one. However, it becomes obvious early on that this is not a decision made without wicked outside influences. The rest of the first issue follows Kim through her introduction to her new high school, where instead of the clicks being the "cool kids" and "nerds" it’s the witches and non-witches.

Mike Carey can write fantasy. Between his work on Lucifer and Hellblazer, he has generated quite a few fans. And with his My Faith in Frankie mini-series, he proved that he could even write teenagers (albeit in a mature audience book). Yet for some reason, this book seems to fall flat. It isn’t poorly written at all. The dialogue is nice. He paces it well. And he doesn’t falter at all in introducing the readers to a totally new set of characters. So where are the problems? Well, the conflicts are shaky at best. Not nearly enough time is spent letting the reader know what to expect from this story. We see bits and pieces of each character, yet not enough to let us know what is going to be happening to them. It’s not as if Carey should have spelled everything out in this first issue, but in a book about witches, there is no real sense of mystery, there is no real sense of apprehension, and basically no real sense that the story is going to be important at all.

Like Carey’s words, Mike Perkins’ pictures leave little to be desired. Once again, it isn’t as if Carey’s artwork is bad. The reader is never confused. He has designed distinct enough looks for each character for the reader to immediately identify them. He captures all the facial expressions asked of him and he matches Carey’s pace without problem. So why does it seem so empty? There just seems to be no life in the book. The few scenes that are the closest to actual action are simple and basic. In a book about witches, one would expect the artist to experiment a little more. Maybe he’ll get a chance in later issues. This critique of the artwork also extends to the inking of Drew Hennessey and the colors of Guru eFX. In fact, in terms of the look of this book, nothing really stands out.

In the end, maybe I was expecting a bit too much. Perhaps I was expecting something exceptional and got something okay. It’s just that the book reads, looks, and feels far too standard for what its advertised subject matter is. Like I’ve said, by no means is this a bad book. It just isn’t a particularly good one either and inevitably whether or not someone will continue to read it is going to be dependant on their reaction to the inevitable cliffhanger ending. What could have kept them reading is a solid 22 pages before it.

-Sam Moyerman