Publisher: self-published
What's it about?
Micah Sampson is a seventeen year old college drop out, feeling his life draining away from his as he works as a supermarket. He has low self esteem, mostly surrounding his body, and a huge crush on the American older man who works at the fish counter. On Micah's last day at the market, said sex-bomb asks him out on a date, which also happens to be the night on which Micah discovers he has superpowers.
Elemental Micah is a blend of a superhero origin story and a tale of friendship, self discovery and finding your place in the world. As most superhero stories are about these things to some extent or another, it's a very effective blend.
What's good about it?
The cast of characters, while small so far, is well told. Micah and his friends Dana and Simon are complex, interesting characters with hopes and regrets of their own, that Georgiou weaves into the story naturally. He never pushes the superpowers to the back seat, but instead character background and conversation (it's a little early for character development) happens while, for example, Micah and Simon are chasing down a tornado in London.
What's bad about it?
Well, the art could use some work. It's obvious that this is Georgiou's first comic work to star human characters and telling a story of this kind. His character designs are great, but there's some awkwardness in telling a cohesive story with them. At some points I had real trouble figuring out what was happening. Which is a shame, because the plotting is so tight, and characters so interesting that better art would make this comic really very good indeed.
What's the art like?
As mentioned above - it needs work, but I suspect that this will pick up as the comic continues. The art is greyscale, and shows a lot of potential in terms of character design and plotting, but needs to be developed more before it's up to the standards of the writing. Nevertheless, the writing and the characters carry the story so well, that it's definitely going to be worth the wait.
Other Information
Available to buy at Indie Comics (£2.99 an issue) and Kindle (86p an issue)
Michael Georgiou is the writer/artist behind the webcomic Steve & Bob. His artwork can also be found at michaelgeorgiou.com
Editors note - this review was crossposted at Prism Comics. Prism Comics is a website dedicated to bringing news and review of LGBT comics. Check them out.
Editors note - this review was crossposted at Prism Comics. Prism Comics is a website dedicated to bringing news and review of LGBT comics. Check them out.
I'm not much into the gay thing, but it seems cool.
ReplyDeletePixel,
ReplyDeleteDo you mean you would read this comic if the main character was losing his virginity to a woman in the first issue?
I like these Kevin Smith style comics. I have high hopes for this one. I haven't been this stoked about one since strangers in paradise. Loved that set!
ReplyDeleteWow, I read this exact same review at Prism Comics. There's a better review at www.mombcomics.com/2011/10/16/elemental-micha/
ReplyDeleteHi James, I'm pleased you think your review is so much better than mine you felt the need to tell me. However, I believe there are ways you could have linked to your review without coming off as rude.
DeleteHi James - The review was cross posted at Prism Comics. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso James - I felt Innerbrat's review was pretty positive. It's a recommendation to read the comic, surely that's good?
ReplyDelete