Daily Archives: 14 January 2012

Why couldn’t they have just done it as a Western? It would have been perfect.

The final issue of Crimson Empire has the best and worst from the series. The woman–her name is Sinn, which is stupid so I probably forced myself to ignore it–declares to the “holy stars” she’ll hunt down the main guy because it turns out he’s kind of a bad guy. Now, “holy stars” (Star Wars was always a little areligious, wasn’t it?) aside, it’s terrible writing from Stradley and Richardson. Sad the series ends on a bad note writing-wise.

Luckily, Gulacy does fine. His art’s really complex this issue. There are these side scenes to an issue long fight scene, so Gulacy’s got to concentrate on supporting cast while fighting goes on in the background. There’s lots to track; the reader has to pay attention.

Except for bad writing, it ends well.

This issue, if I’m adding right, takes place over a couple hours. Maybe the reason Star Wars comics aren’t taken seriously is because in those two hours, not only is a space battle determined, but there’s also time for the woman and her sidekick to fly to an entirely different solar system to save the protagonist.

The protagonist doesn’t get any lines this issue, which is too bad, but does fit in with the Crimson Empire is a Western feel. It’s unfortunate Gulacy and Richardson didn’t cultivate that genre and reign in the story. Seriously, the leaps in logic (I mean, the Star Wars movies establish how long space travel takes) might be what keeps this franchise down.

Russell doesn’t ink Gulacy too harshly; it’s nice to see the Gulacy eyes return this issue. There’s a lot of good art and the battle scenes are all very well-paced visually.