Review: The Massive

Cover

After the crash, a eco-social-environmental cataclysm that changed the Earth's natural order, we find the Kapital threading the seas in search of the Massive, her sister ship. Both belong to an environmental group called the Ninth Wave that roam the seas in a Greenpeace after the end of the World routine.

Callum, Mag and Mary, the lead characters, are heads of that movement. Callum is the leader, Mag the soldier and Mary the wildcard. Together they run the Kapital and keep pressing on it search for the Massive.

Internal and external conflicts keep getting in the way of their quest. Only time will tell if the can keep their Greenpeacian ways or if they'll turn to a more violent path.

How is it?

I came into The Massive with higher expectation than usual. I liked all of  Brian Wood's book I've read thus far and I love post-apocalyptic settings in comics. Not that The Massive is set in a post-apocalyptic setting per se, but its close enough. So naturally this looked like a winner.

Well, the premise of the book is interesting enough. The remnants of a ecological activist group are searching for their companions in arms that have been lost at sea, while struggling with moral conflicts about their place in the new world and dealing with all the scum that sail the expanded seas.

Is it the Massive?

Unfortunately the execution of this concept isn't the best one. Right from page one things start getting very confusing. Way more confusing that they needed to be. Between the weird pace at with the story is told and the awkwardly flashbacks transitions, its very easy to get lost.

Art wise this book engaging enough. Dave Stewart, Garry Brown and Kristian Donaldson do a competent job in breathing life into Brian Wood's creations. While not being brilliant, they manage to offer a distinct art style to the book that stays coherent from start to finish. Sadly this doesn't make the book by itself.

Hush! One more out there.

Verdict?

After I carried this book around for about 4 weeks with me, I was just about halfway in. I just lost interest in the story. Sadly I can't recommend it. The Massive lacks that spark the good stories have. That little thing that keeps you turning the page and always hungry for more.

Brian Wood has created great comic books in the past but this one is a miss. Skip it and go read some other Brian Wood book, like Channel Zero.


Publisher: Dark Horse
Year: 2013
Pages: 176
Authors: Brian Wood, Kristian Donaldson, Garry Brown, Dave Stewart
ISBN: 1616551321

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