Ben Perez and Matt Rothblatt’s creator-owned Spiralmind series is a difficult comic to evaluate. It’s a story that wanders the mystical streets of Nineveh, a speculative city populated by a smorgasbord of creatures: demons, vampires, angels, sorcerers, aliens, you name it. All of these creatures collide into one another at a rapid speed, creating an ambitious book that is clearly the passion of its creators.
The problem, however, is that the ambition of this book reaches for too much too soon. Spiralmind is the flagship product of the creative team’s independent publishing company, Phi3 Comics, which allows for the book’s printing. But it also creates a situation where all editorial oversight is internalized; the creators know what’s going on, but an objective eye is lacking to identify what works and what does not.
The second issue of Spiralmind reveals the hero of the story, an electrical engineer by day named Ben Landry who, by night, dons an advanced electrical suit that grants him the sci-fi powers of Spiralmind. It’s with this introduction that the biggest problem of the issue reveals itself: the narration. The book is flooded with unnecessary caption boxes that narrate nearly the entire story moment-by-moment. I was immediately reminded of my English writing basics from college, one of which is to not use repetitive adjectives. Is it necessary to describe someone as lazily lethargic? How about furiously angry? No, it’s not. It violates the classic Shakespearean rule: “Brevity is the soul of wit.”
From this point, we’re given a crash course in Spiralmind’s technology and how he employs it. The imagination behind the details is commendable, but it’s too much of an information dump. Again, it’s too much too soon; the pacing is all off. The story would have benefited from establishing the smaller, telling details of Ben’s apartment and life when he’s not suited up, versus focusing on the core plot devices alone.
When the scene cuts, we’re introduced again to the shady underbelly of Nineveh. I like the scenery and visuals of artist Brian Robinson, but his art is weighted down by more caption boxes filled with unending narration that is simply redundant and unnecessary. But from what’s revealed, there’s a secret society existing in the bowels of the city that is plotting the end of times. This is a cabal filled with shady creatures, such as fallen angels and reptilian aliens.
Again, there is too much revealed. Writer Perez needs to take a breath and pace himself. He clearly has a vision, but he’s throwing far too much at his readers and it’s impossible to keep everything straight. The proof: the best part of the book is the last few pages when we see Spiralmind out of costume simply enjoying a lighthearted conversation with a friend. This segment is uncluttered and well-timed, and it needs to be emulated more.
I see a lot of good ideas lost in an avalanche of confused stories and characters. As I mentioned before, the biggest failing of creator-owned comics is the lack of editorial guidance. What a creator sees in his head is not the guaranteed response from his readers. But books bounce back: Colin Panetta’s Dead Man Holiday was one of the biggest messes of magnificent art I ever laid eyes upon as a creator-owned book. But it was such a unique and true idea that I refused to quit reading it, and now, since the creator has grown into his skin more, I appreciate the book on a new level. That’s the destiny I hope for with Spiralmind; I always enjoy being proven wrong.
This comic book review originally appeared on Broken Frontier on 24 March 2010.
