BB review group week 19 - Expatriate #1 (spoilers)

[Thudpucker]

This week, we are reading / reviewing:

Expatriate #1 (Image) by B. Clay Moore and Jason Latour, chosen by Auron

Next week we will be reading: TEMPORARY THE REAL ME #2 $2.95 by Damon Hurd & Rick Smith (Origin Comics). If you need to order it here's the order number, FEB053001F, your store should be able to get it in for you if he does an advance reorder this week or even reorders it early next week.

Part 1 of 2. When Envy goes to work for the 31st Precinct to catalog evidence for a big case, she expects just another typical day. But after meeting Jimmy and his four closest friends, she quickly realizes that there's nothing typical about this job. Jimmy is a detective. His Lieutenant thinks he's edgy. The Assistant DA calls him a loose cannon. His fellow detectives say he's a ticking time bomb. As for Jimmy, he's driving down the dark road of his mind, and he's not alone. He's never alone.

Our Reviewers are:

Thudpucker - 4
TIP -
The Victor -
TonyFleecs - 8
Kirby's Corpse - 3.9
silverboy - 3.5
neophyte -
Mike D! - 4
Mark -
rodnunley - 3
STOLTMAN - MIA
Tom G - 4
Jaypee - 5
Auron -
denny - 5.5
J. R. Scherer - 6
Powersurge - MIA
Criden -
Gaspar -
Boris the Blade -
Anthony The Ghost - 5
WAKKAJAWAKKA -
Pat Loika -
Nathan Patton -
anThONY_s - 4
Lord Aidian -
Dharma Bum - 7
Frozen Sooner -
Shane Welker - 5
Fourthman - 4
alan -
Freeway2k -
The beggar - 5
Raydawggie - 8.5
BriRedfern -
Blake4000 - 6
arthurloewenkamp -
Andrew j -
You Killed Hawkeye - 6
Opus Croakus - 5



Our Previous 16 weeks of reviews scores lost to the void

Week 1 - 11/17/04 – Captain America #1
Week 2 - 11/24/04 – Flash #216
Week 3 - 12/01/04 – Darkness Vol. 2 #17
Week 4 - 12/08/04 – Demo #12
Week 5 - 12/15/04 - Plastic Man #13
Week 6 - 12/22/04 – Goon #10
Week 7 - 12/29/04 - Legion of Super Heroes #1
Week 8 - 01/05/05 – Flaming Carrot #1
Week 9 - 01/12/05 – Majestic #1
Week 10 - 01/19/05 – Human Target #18
Week 11 - 01/26/05 – Conan #12
Week 12 - 02/02/05 – Black Panther #1
Week 13 - 02/09/05 – Young Avengers #1
Week 14 - 02/16/05 – Ex Machina #8
Week 15 - 02/23/05 – X-Men #167
Week 16 - 03/02/05 – Ultimate Iron Man #1

Week 17 pick - Shining Knight #1 (Morrison and Bianchi) average grade - 7.8
Week 18 pick - Invincible #21 (Kirkman and Ottley) average grade - 6.3

Our higest average grade so far was for Ex-Machina #8 with 8.4
Our lowest average grade so for was for Darkness #17 with 3.7

Our SF Bay sponsor is Isotope Comics (if you stop by the board, please post your graphic again for us so we can use it in the thread)

(If any other retailers would like to sponsor our reviewers in your area, I'd be happy to pimp your store in the thread too )

[neophyte]

Glad I checked in before I went to the shop. I didn't even know this was the choice for this week

[Ray G.]

Expatriate #1:

This was a good read, even if it wasn't my genre of reading at all. It was a gripping book that in many ways felt like reading an episode of a drama like 24. Again, it's a little hard for me to review this, because I haven't read too many books in this genre and the art isn't quite to my taste, but good writing transcends genre. I'm not sure I'll be picking up issue two, but I'm glad I got the chance to read this book thanks to this list. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes more realistic comics.'

8.5/10

[neophyte]

My shop didn't have it. Grr...I'm not used to missing these.

[gaspar]

Glad I checked in before I went to the shop. I didn't even know this was the choice for this week

Unfortunately, I didn't check this morning. If I can find a copy later in the week, I'll post a review, but I've made my weekly trip to two shops and didn't know what the selection was...didn't pick that one up as one of my weekly random purchases, so now I have to wait and see if I can find a copy. Sorry...I'll post if I get one.

Brandon

[Thudpucker]

I post what we will be reading a week ahead, just so everyone knows. Look at the top of the main post, and you will see "and next week, we are reading - blank"

I do this so everyone doesn't have to wait till the day the book comes out and check the thread to see what it is.

[Wagon]

btw, heads up ... it looks like you misspelled Isotope up there in the original post, Thudpucker...

not that it's a big thing, but still, figured you would want to change that..

[Patton]

my shop didn't have it either dammit. sorry guys.

I'll order it online.

[Alexander Hamilton]

I had absolutely no preconceived notion about this book. Its pretty refreshing. Most of the books I've been reading have at least a little word of mouth going for 'em, good and bad. On Expatriate, I knew nothing of the writer or artists. So here we are.

Story- The characterization seemed strong enough. The story itself didn't really have anything to keep me really interested. It felt like the Fugitive in Mexico (I'm assuming) without the suspense. It wasn't necessarily bad, just blah. I have a feeling it may pick up in the coming issues, but his issue alone pretty mediocre. 4.5/10

Art- The art was really fantastic. It seems like Darwyn Cook mixed with Gaydos. It seems as though Latour had a lot of fun with this. Theres an energy to the panels. the color was sparse and primary. It hits you hard with the use of blacks. I look forward to more from Latour. I'm glad to have gotten two covers for the price of one. 9.5/10

Overall- I may stick around for aqnother issue or two to see if the story picks up, but the hook hasn't presented itself yet. The art is also keeping on a little bit longer. 7 out 10.

[Thudpucker]

btw, heads up ... it looks like you misspelled Isotope up there in the original post, Thudpucker...

not that it's a big thing, but still, figured you would want to change that..

Thanks, couldn't remember how it was spelled and I am horrible at guessing ops: