Welcome to Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave

  • grifter78
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    • 2 years 10 months ago
    • Posts: 333


    (No Spoilers)

    Welcome ‘back’ to Tranquility! That quirky little town in the Wildstorm Universe that Gail Simone introduced us to back in 2006. In case you don’t know, the original Welcome to Tranquility ran for 12 issues. As part of the Worldstorm event, it retroactively added this cast of elderly superheroes to the Wildstorm Universe. For example, it added a history between Majestic, The High, and Tranquility resident Maximum Man as a duo fighting crime in the early 20th century called The Big Three. It was an idea that did not exist before the series. After the series, there was a Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon one-shot that appeared as part of the Wildstorm: Armageddon crossover. Since then, we haven’t seen the town other than a few mentions of it over in Gen 13.

    First thing you need to know is this happens before World’s End so it has no bearing on that story. The second thing I’m sure you want to know is, “Can I read this without reading the first series?”. Well, kind of. This is truly a sequel to the original series. It follows on the heels of the original arc which centered around the story of Mayor Alex Fury. But there is at least one reference to the second arc of the original series. Simone does a good job of getting us up to speed on the events of previous series. So, I can honestly say you won’t be lost reading this, but you will have the feeling that there was a whole other story that happened that you missed out on. Thankfully, the original series is collected in trade and it’s not a big deal to catch up with it.

    The original series had Neil Googe doing the art. This time he’s only providing the covers. We have Horacio Domingues on art. I’ve seen his work elsewhere and I have to say it’s just ok. It’s similar enough to Googe’s that if you were reading, it wouldn’t be too jarring of a visual change, but I don’t think Domingues puts as much detail in his art like Googe does. An example of this is a scene of a car exploding that in my opinion looked really weak. Don’t get me wrong, his art is not terrible at all. It fits the series perfectly. I just thought it could have been stronger.

    One of the things that I loved about the original that’s still intact here is Simone’s humor. We start off with a couple of great gags at the beginning including a very clever one that gives us a summary about what happened in Tranquility’s first arc. Plus all the dialogue is spot on. Every character’s personality shows through in not just what they say but also how they say it. These are all Simone’s creations so I’m glad she’s the one writing this book.

    This was a good first issue that sets up a great new mystery for the citizens of Tranquility. We got to see the majority of the residents here but there’s still a few more I hope to see by the end of the mini-series. I’m glad Simone decided to come back to this sandbox and play.

    Synopsis:
    http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com/page/Welcome+to+Tranquility%3A+One+Foot+in+the+Grave+%231
    http://www.wildstormaddiction.com-Wildstorm Addiction Podcast

    http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com -Wilstorm Resource Wiki
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  • grifter78
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    • 2 years 9 months ago
    • Posts: 333


    Gail Simone does know how to write a fun comic. This little venture back into the town of Tranquility has her in top form as she crafts another great mystery while not skimping on the humor.

    The opening pages are great! They offer more back story on the characters of Tranquility in fun and unique ways just like Simone did in the original series. But don’t think these little nuggets are just for fun. If you pay attention you can start putting together some of the mystery. This is especially true with the last page. I thought it was brilliant.

    I will say a huge part of the mystery set up in the first issue is answered here (seemingly) and I’m kind of glad this revelation came early in this series. When you’ve only got 6 issues to work with, you don’t want to spend too much time on build up. Plus, we don’t just have one mystery to follow, we’ve actually got two as a once thought dead character has returned.

    Horacio Domingues’ art does seem a lot stronger in this issue too. I don’t know what it was about issue one that made the art feel a little rushed and with not much detail. But here it seems he put a little more into it, especially during the humorous parts at the beginning and the end. Plus, Domingues does some inserts on the panel borders that really added to some key scenes. It’s not all fun and games though as we get a great action scene towards the end of the issue.

    I still have neglected to re-read the original series but so far I can tell you Simone is adding enough information here to where I don’t feel lost. So if you’re still afraid to pick this up because you think you’ll be lost, think again. Simone is a great writer that doesn’t disappoint so you know coming into this you’re going to get a great story.

    Synopsis:
    http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com/page/Welcome+to+Tranquility%3A+One+Foot+in+the+Grave+%232
    http://www.wildstormaddiction.com-Wildstorm Addiction Podcast

    http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com -Wilstorm Resource Wiki
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  • grifter78
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    • 2 years 8 months ago
    • Posts: 333


    Gail Simone is a true master of the story telling device “the plot thickens”. This is only the 3rd issue of this mini-series and she has packed so much story into this series so far. She is also doing a great job of balancing all the characters which is no easy task with an ensemble cast.

    The story behind the villain of this story could have easily been written off as a cliché. But Simone takes us down some dark places as we see the true nature of this villain. We also find out pretty quick how he got this way. This new character she’s introduced is really powerful and it leads to some disturbing uses of his powers. This issue is really about him as the other characters can do little else but be reactive to the events unfolding before them.

    Domingues’ art is growing on me a little but there are still some places I feel he can improve. However, there is one scene between Henry Hate and Zombie Zeke that he illustrates which was hilarious! I’d call it Simone’s obligatory humor scene but I think that comes off as negative. And believe me there is nothing negative about Simone’s humor. She comes up with some fun scenes (wait until you see the in-comic “advertisement”).

    The issue also has a great cliffhanger. Any time the survival of any of the characters comes into question, it’s a great cliffhanger. Plus, with the way Simone has presented our villain, the act he performs at the end is truly wicked and comes after some intense build-up in the story.

    One Foot in the Grave seems to be focusing on our new villain more than the citizens of Tranquility. This may make the difference for new readers because they’re learning about this new character as older fans do the same. It’s almost as if he’s the window into this story. I hope people are giving this title a try. It is proving to be a solid read each month.

    Synopsis:
    http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com/page/Welcome+to+Tranquility%3A+One+Foot+in+the+Grave+%233
    http://www.wildstormaddiction.com-Wildstorm Addiction Podcast

    http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com -Wilstorm Resource Wiki
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