The Empty Zone #1
Writer: Jason Shawn Alexander
Artist: Jason Shawn Alexander
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: June 17, 2015
Cover Price: $3.50
With The Empty Zone #1, Jason Shawn Alexander tries to pull us into a new, shadowy world of deceit, nightmares and violence but, it’s just too dark to make light of anything yet.
There’s something here, there’s no doubt about that. Alexander is a skilled artist, one totally in control of this Blade Runner meets a can of black spray paint world where Corinne White, a contract killer or espionage agent of sorts is haunted by friends alive and dead, by visions of horror that may or may not be real, by her own imagination.
This first issue, for lack of a better word, is immediate. It’s dark, visceral, dense and relatively fluid but, in all of that layering and complexity, it obfuscates anything of real importance in an effort to create suspense and intrigue.
A sense of intrigue that feels forced, not earned. The art is incredible here: dark and gritty, smartly visceral but, the story is erratic and jumps from place to place without so much as a semblance of warning or narrative shift.
Ultimately, Alexander succeeds in creating a world I’m interested in visiting again. Especially so, with the immediacy of the art and how rewarding each page is to look at. He doesn’t succeed however, in introducing us to an interesting story in that world. The Empty Zone’s first issue ends up being a beautifully dark but, hollow introduction that relies too much on trickery and not actual suspense.
Artist: Jason Shawn Alexander
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: June 17, 2015
Cover Price: $3.50
With The Empty Zone #1, Jason Shawn Alexander tries to pull us into a new, shadowy world of deceit, nightmares and violence but, it’s just too dark to make light of anything yet.
There’s something here, there’s no doubt about that. Alexander is a skilled artist, one totally in control of this Blade Runner meets a can of black spray paint world where Corinne White, a contract killer or espionage agent of sorts is haunted by friends alive and dead, by visions of horror that may or may not be real, by her own imagination.
This first issue, for lack of a better word, is immediate. It’s dark, visceral, dense and relatively fluid but, in all of that layering and complexity, it obfuscates anything of real importance in an effort to create suspense and intrigue.
A sense of intrigue that feels forced, not earned. The art is incredible here: dark and gritty, smartly visceral but, the story is erratic and jumps from place to place without so much as a semblance of warning or narrative shift.
Ultimately, Alexander succeeds in creating a world I’m interested in visiting again. Especially so, with the immediacy of the art and how rewarding each page is to look at. He doesn’t succeed however, in introducing us to an interesting story in that world. The Empty Zone’s first issue ends up being a beautifully dark but, hollow introduction that relies too much on trickery and not actual suspense.
A Look Inside
