Collective Consciousness: All-New Fathom #1
Welcome back to Collective Consciousness, our weekly article where the staff takes one comic and puts it under the microscope. This allows us, and you, faithful reader, to get a good idea of how the comic fares against a variety of opinions. This week we're taking a look at All-New Fathom #1
Jennifer Lund
The cover art on this book really did make me cringe at first. This isn’t a character or story I’ve ever heard of, so visuals are the only thing left that would compel me to pull it off the shelf. Not gonna lie, Marco Renna’s cover doesn’t make me want to pick this up. I’m hardly a prude, but this had every indication of a being a brainless jigglefest right from the start.
Now in fairness, the art improves dramatically inside the book. Not only that, but Blake Northcott’s story made me actually care about who Aspen is. I was afraid her story was going to be some goofy superhero version of Aquaman-meets-Ariel, but I was pleasantly surprised at the intelligence and wit present in the narrative. I was particularly amused at Ty’s explanation to Aspen of what happens when superheroes, especially of the female variety, are a subject of discussion on the internet. Pay special attention to the “Chirper” jerk with the banned account; his name is fairly subtle dig at a toxic member of our current political discourse. I also enjoyed noticing the throwaway acknowledgment that this story shares a universe with the Tomb Raider games. All in all, not a bad way to start out; I’m definitely interested in seeing what happens next month.
Matthew Mahar
Fathom is a case of a character's publishing history being significantly more interesting than the character itself. Borne from the departed Michael Turner in 1998 at Top Cow (before transitioning to Turner's own Aspen), Fathom has been around for nearly 20 years and multiple volumes. The thing is, we don't get much of a hint to that legacy here. I have no idea of this is a continuation of Fathom's story (last published in 2013) or a fresh take, as is the flavor of the day. The writing is decent, but a little wordy. This is Northcott's first foray into comic writing, so there will be a bit of a learning curve. Had the story been a little tighter and the art been a bit more expressive is be more interested.
Ryan L.
Michael Turner was one of the best artists in comics and he will forever be missed. Fathom was an incredible series and now we get a brand new creative team at the helm. This issue was interesting and a lot of fun. Our new creative team introduces Aspen to the modern world especially the Internet. Things will never be the same for her. Amongst all this Aspen needs to deal with a new threat that threatens to destroy everything. The art is like a homage to Turner's unique style but the artist still manages to add in their own flair to it. While this new series didn't hold any of the magic Michael Turner's original did, this is still a lot of fun and worth picking up.
Jason Jason
I have to admit this is another series that I've never read. I knew nothing about it going into reading it, but I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it. It was a fun easy read. There were some things that I was lost on, but I was able to sort of gather what history I needed while reading it. The main character is interesting, and well written. I do have an affinity for under water characters i.e Namor and Aquaman, so I am going to try to learn some more about the series. So I guess this one is a win.
Peyi Olugbodi
Well that book ended exactly how I thought it would start and end. I never read or knew about this book, so admittedly I probably don't fully have an appreciation for the relationships in the book. For me it was really straight forward, which doesn't make that a bad thing but doesn't really feel like it would attract new readers into the story, The most interesting thing was seeing Milo, Cenk Uygur, Jonathan Pie, Ana Kasparian and a whole lot of political commentators. However, for people that have no idea who any of these guys are, even I didn't know all of them, it does look like random people commenting on something so randomly. Maybe it will end up attracting new readers and old readers may enjoy, but for me it's not a book I would be looking forward to reading.
Jennifer Lund
The cover art on this book really did make me cringe at first. This isn’t a character or story I’ve ever heard of, so visuals are the only thing left that would compel me to pull it off the shelf. Not gonna lie, Marco Renna’s cover doesn’t make me want to pick this up. I’m hardly a prude, but this had every indication of a being a brainless jigglefest right from the start.
Now in fairness, the art improves dramatically inside the book. Not only that, but Blake Northcott’s story made me actually care about who Aspen is. I was afraid her story was going to be some goofy superhero version of Aquaman-meets-Ariel, but I was pleasantly surprised at the intelligence and wit present in the narrative. I was particularly amused at Ty’s explanation to Aspen of what happens when superheroes, especially of the female variety, are a subject of discussion on the internet. Pay special attention to the “Chirper” jerk with the banned account; his name is fairly subtle dig at a toxic member of our current political discourse. I also enjoyed noticing the throwaway acknowledgment that this story shares a universe with the Tomb Raider games. All in all, not a bad way to start out; I’m definitely interested in seeing what happens next month.
Matthew Mahar
Fathom is a case of a character's publishing history being significantly more interesting than the character itself. Borne from the departed Michael Turner in 1998 at Top Cow (before transitioning to Turner's own Aspen), Fathom has been around for nearly 20 years and multiple volumes. The thing is, we don't get much of a hint to that legacy here. I have no idea of this is a continuation of Fathom's story (last published in 2013) or a fresh take, as is the flavor of the day. The writing is decent, but a little wordy. This is Northcott's first foray into comic writing, so there will be a bit of a learning curve. Had the story been a little tighter and the art been a bit more expressive is be more interested.
Ryan L.
Michael Turner was one of the best artists in comics and he will forever be missed. Fathom was an incredible series and now we get a brand new creative team at the helm. This issue was interesting and a lot of fun. Our new creative team introduces Aspen to the modern world especially the Internet. Things will never be the same for her. Amongst all this Aspen needs to deal with a new threat that threatens to destroy everything. The art is like a homage to Turner's unique style but the artist still manages to add in their own flair to it. While this new series didn't hold any of the magic Michael Turner's original did, this is still a lot of fun and worth picking up.
Jason Jason
I have to admit this is another series that I've never read. I knew nothing about it going into reading it, but I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it. It was a fun easy read. There were some things that I was lost on, but I was able to sort of gather what history I needed while reading it. The main character is interesting, and well written. I do have an affinity for under water characters i.e Namor and Aquaman, so I am going to try to learn some more about the series. So I guess this one is a win.
Peyi Olugbodi
Well that book ended exactly how I thought it would start and end. I never read or knew about this book, so admittedly I probably don't fully have an appreciation for the relationships in the book. For me it was really straight forward, which doesn't make that a bad thing but doesn't really feel like it would attract new readers into the story, The most interesting thing was seeing Milo, Cenk Uygur, Jonathan Pie, Ana Kasparian and a whole lot of political commentators. However, for people that have no idea who any of these guys are, even I didn't know all of them, it does look like random people commenting on something so randomly. Maybe it will end up attracting new readers and old readers may enjoy, but for me it's not a book I would be looking forward to reading.
A Look Inside
