I must admit that I've never read any "Amazing Man" comic book. So I'll be jumping into the middle of stories, not having the knowledge of what happened before in those stories, and the background setting information previously provided in panel art, narrative text, and character dialogue.
I'll start reviewing this book's stories one by one:
Cover Amazing man being held in a deadly restrictive device is interesting, providing good suspense, and is a good vehicle for making the reader want to open the book and find out what happens to him.
Amazing ManAs is typical when the reader joins an episodical saga, it is a bit frustrating not knowing the backstory. I wonder how Aman doesn't get cold at night and during winter, wearing so little. Is one of his powers an internal warming source? It was a bit difficult to follow the action. Somehow, I feel that not enough information was provided to the reader. Aman having a green fog he can travel in without being seen is an interesting device. Overall, this wasn't all that interesting to me. The artwork was okay, but nothing special.
MinimidgitThis story was much easier to follow. A machine that can send people to other times is interesting, and the future dictatorship that uses robots to enslave an entire people is also a good scenario. Also, bringing the robot back to the present with the heroes for potential use in future episodes is a nice boost for the series. also providing a suspenseful ending, to make the reader want to read the following episode as soon as possible.
The Iron SkullAs a scientist, I find this very silly. The Iron Skull has a transferable power. People who want to communicate with him just need to concentrate in thinking about him for them to communicate with him through use of telepathy. He has a skull made of iron, so an evil opponent can use that to transform his entire body into iron (by some magic process not explained). The evil villain manufactures a magnet so strong that it can pull an iron-based object half way across The World, without affecting any closer iron-based objects. Maybe there is already too much unexplained "magic" in this story. I fear that there will be more.
This story DID produce one of the funniest panels I can remember - showing The Iron Skull's head attached to the magnet, with him struggling, trying to get free.
Despite all its silliness, this story was much easier to follow than the Amazing Man episode. The artwork was very primitive, however. Not an appealing attribute.
Dr. HypnoThe premise of this feature's series is very interesting - that an academic scientist, pychologist/criminologist can transfer his mind into the body of another person or animal to solve crimes and apprehend criminals. This was a good (albeit short) episode with decent suspense. I did have a problem that after the crooks decided to murder the girl, and Dr. Hypno breaks the door and enters the room, the crook who was already holding the gun, and pointing towards the door, wasn't able to fire it at Dr. Hypno, before Hypno came upon him, despite the distance from the door being at least 6-10 feet (if not more). That would mean that he had maybe 3-4 full seconds. If he was willing to kill the girl, risking a life sentence in prison, or the death penalty, he'd have nothing to lose by killing or severely wounding Dr. Hypno. All in all, it held my interest. And I look forward to reading more "Dr. Hypno" stories.
The Shark"The Shark" looks like an interesting series. it's difficult to jump into the middle of the story. We have 2 Humans, with one of them named "Father Neptune" (so, he may represent The Roman God of The Sea, and that may be why his son apparently has "super strength", which made him able to defeat 5 or 6 Martians, bigger than he, in hand-to-hand combat. It's a little frustrating not knowing what species the green Earthlings are, and how they are related to Humans. It's interesting that the scientist of the two uses a machine to bring Martians to Earth, and that those Martians want to kill ALL Humans, and conquer The Earth. Neptune may well be an immortal being, given that he was already an adult almost 300 years before. I also think it is unlikely that the skeleton of a hung victim would still be hanging. neatly, after almost 300 years. Surely, predatory animals and scavengers would have grabbed and made off with pieces of the carcass.
This is another story that makes me want to read the other episodes.
Death For One(Text Story)A very good story scenario, given only 2 pages to complete it. It is extremely difficult to set up a story situation (setting), then build up the action, while showing who the characters are, and develop some suspense, and have room left for a climax, and even a very short epilogue (if possible). Story types are limited to coincidences, and the action practically jumping into a dramatic unusual climactic showdown scene, which is difficult to be unexpected, because there is little room for plot development, so in order for the reader to understand what is going on, he or she in most cases, must expect what will happen. In the case of this story the reader guesses that Zona will be the victim and planned source of life for the dead woman, and the "mad doctor" has invited A-Man to watch his sidekick ladyfriend die to help him make history as the first man to bring a full day plus dead person back to life as an ingenious way to get revenge on A-Man for having captured him (and perhaps sent him to prison) when committing a crime some years ago.
Personally, it all happens too fast, and there is no surprise. I'd rather have read a story using this plot, that would be a 50+ page short story in a full-fledged book of shocking tales, or in a regular comic book graphic novel of 32 pages+, where there would be room to establish the setting, develop the characters intertwined with developing the plot slowly, at first, building up suspense, and developing the mood from lighthearted to edgy, to macabre, as we see the evil in the heart of the villain being revealed gradually until the shocking climax. I wouldn't waste it on something as "mundane" as a typical superhero story. I'd use it for a Poe-style 19th century-type thriller. And I'd use some of that extra room to have an unexpected twist or two at the end, so the emotions of the reader are yanked back and forth.
Mighty ManA nice touch that Mighty Man, undercover, hi-jacked a truck that was planned to be hi-jacked by the villainous gang, and he cleverly got the two groups of gangmembers to kill off most of each's members/ This story just needed a clever undercover cop, rather than a superhero with super powers. I never have been able to understand why anyone likes superhero stories. Nothing to admire. They have a big advantage over their adversaries. It's much more impressive if normal people rise past their fears because they want good to triumph over evil, and they do their absolute best, risking their lives, and they are successful, or die trying.
This story, had some good ideas, but, unfortunately, the hero having super powers leaves little doubt about the outcome, and so it is relatively boring. And it wasn't helped by its really poor, unprofessional-level artwork.
It would only be interesting if a superhero, who has superpowers, would allow tragedies to occur because of his own character flaws, and because of that, he'd be loved by some of the people and hated by others, and he'd brood over his missed opportunities to help society or his city because of temporary laziness or selfishness, and then, part of the time, be a drunkard, wading in his own guilt and remorse (a tragic character, who once-in-a-while rises to heights of heroism, but often is a morose, guilt-ridden drunk.
Reef KinkaidThis adventure story had a nice lead-in to the main plot, with the realistic portion, of Kinkaid being interested in visiting "The Lost Valley", and his hiring a crew of natives of an Amazon-style jungle, sailing upriver. The artwork, although not great, is the best of any of the stories in this book. It's a typical "Lost Valley" story, where time hasn't moved in eons, and animals from The Jurassic and Cretacious Periods co-exist with large mammals from our time. It would be nicer if the author and artist would have done some research, and not drawn a sabre-toothed cat with stripes like a tiger, and had drawn a so-called Megalosaurus as a large plant-eater. It isn't clear at all, whether or not Kinkaid is a super-hero. But, no normal man could have put a choke hold on a sabre-tooth cat. When those animals existed, our small, weak ancestors had to be high in trees when they came around. On the ground they wouldn't have had a chance to defend themselves, and would be run down, killed, and eaten, without exception, because they couldn't scamper anywhere near fast enough to get away. It held my interest a little, but I don't think I'll look for the other episodes of this way too common fantasy story.
ZardiI'm a scientist, and like to know the real reason why things happen. So, I'm not a fan of magic as the "reason" for things happening in a story. I'm very interested in the history of the ancient Middle East. But, I also don't like authors writing about things they don't know, and their writing without doing research, and artists drawing without doing research. I didn't like the mixture of Hebrew, Arabic, and Roman characters that was supposed to by ancient Egyptian Hieratic writing. It is interesting that Zardi is thousands of years old, and possibly immortal, through his knowledge of ancient Egyptian or Chaldean spells, and yet, he uses knowledge of martial arts to defeat criminals. The art in this feature is pretty weak, as it ts in most of this book's stories. This story held my interest somewhat, but its premise is a little too silly for my taste.
Overall Assessment: This was definitely a book worth reading. There are a few story episodes ("Dr. Hypno, and "Minimidget", "The Shark", that will get me to read the previous and following episodes. And, the text story, although not terribly well crafted (due to a totally expected ending), got me thinking so deeply about how it SHOULD have been handled, gives me a long story I want to write, myself, and publish in some form. This is very unusual. Usually, I labour over reading comic book text stories (rarely finishing them), and almost NEVER review them along with the drawn stories.
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Topic: Reading Group No.226 - Amazing Man (Read 2839 times)
