Book-It 'o12! Book #45
The Fifty Books Challenge, year three! (Years one, two, and three just in case you're curious.) This was a library request.
Title: Echo: The Complete Edition by Terry Moore
Details: Copyright 2011, Abstract Studio
Synopsis (By Way of Amazon.com): "Julie is in the wrong place at the wrong time and becomes an unwilling participant in a web of murder and deceit that becomes nuclear! She is forced to find the maker of the atomic plasma that has rained down on her. As the plasma grows, she gets closer and closer to answers with the help of the original owner of the atomic suit she now wears. A lunatic with powers from the plasma is determined to take Julie and her suit for his own and destroys everything that stands in his way. Julie''s mission becomes too hot for her to handle alone and along with Ivy and Dillon, she must stop the makers of the suit from harnessing the plasma for their own destructive use."
Why I Wanted to Read It: My love of Moore's masterpiece Strangers in Paradise is well known (through that review link, you can get to all the other reviews). Even though the plot isn't generally the sort of thing that interests me, I was too delighted to see more of the author's work that I was willing to overlook that.
How I Liked It: I admit, I was on edge since completing several volumes of Powers, specifically the fact that all the female characters have bodies built for the straight male gaze and are frequently (and unnecessarily) naked and in risque poses (and the men, well, aren't). Also, the writing has them frequently little more than foils for male attention (and that's even with the fact one of the main characters is a female detective and it's allegedly a crime series).
Moore, a straight male, managed to tell a multi-volume story in Strangers in Paradise with not only diverse female characters, but ones with non-porn fantasy bodies (even Casey, the former cheerleader turned Vegas showgirl who struggled with body image and suffered from anorexia before getting enormous breast implants) and a variety of shapes, not to mention the equal amount of male and female nudity. When critics have noted that Strangers in Paradise is a series that attracts women to comics, they often miss the fact it's because the female characters therein are treated like human beings.
Thankfully, Moore keeps up this practice in Echo. Although several elements of the plot require near or almost female nudity (the main character does, after all, get a strange material affixed to her body that she can't remove) Moore handles it in everyway Powers didn't; non titillating angles, realistic shapes, and nudity/undress only when it's called for by the plot. He also has at least one nude male and half-naked male. Also a note for Powers, Moore creates a woman flying through the air on several occasions and she's leading with her shoulders, not with her breasts.
But enough of that, how about the story, you're wondering.
It's not usually my interest, but Moore's even plotting, complex characterization, and sharp dialog make it a fascinating page-turner. Somehow, the espionage drama doesn't quite take on the (no pun intended) cartoonish quality that Strangers in Paradise's crime storylines sometimes did, further showing Moore's evolution as a storyteller.
The themes of the book are clear (humanity's relationship with war, technology, and the ethics involved with both) and each chapter opens with a quote. While in lesser hands this could become heavy-handed and even preachy, in Moore's it's a quiet, contemplative device and he offers no solutions, mostly leaving the readers to decide for ourselves.
The artwork is rich (if not as artistically surreal as Strangers) and I found my only complaint in the fact Moore's females can often share too similar facial characteristics. There's not enough distinction physically between the characters of Annie and Julie, for instance, the main really being just hair length (although in color they differ apparently, the comic is in black and white). Also, when a character finds herself aging backwards, and knocking from thirty-one to twenty-one, it isn't the sharp distinction the characters themselves make it out to be.
Overall, the book's flaws are minute compared to its assets and Moore distinguishes himself as more than a one-series author with this masterpiece about technology, warfare, and the nature of mankind.
Notable: A character from Strangers may or may not make an appearance that is well-handled and thankfully unreminiscent of a labored crossover or give the feel of a spin-off.
Title: Echo: The Complete Edition by Terry Moore
Details: Copyright 2011, Abstract Studio
Synopsis (By Way of Amazon.com): "Julie is in the wrong place at the wrong time and becomes an unwilling participant in a web of murder and deceit that becomes nuclear! She is forced to find the maker of the atomic plasma that has rained down on her. As the plasma grows, she gets closer and closer to answers with the help of the original owner of the atomic suit she now wears. A lunatic with powers from the plasma is determined to take Julie and her suit for his own and destroys everything that stands in his way. Julie''s mission becomes too hot for her to handle alone and along with Ivy and Dillon, she must stop the makers of the suit from harnessing the plasma for their own destructive use."
Why I Wanted to Read It: My love of Moore's masterpiece Strangers in Paradise is well known (through that review link, you can get to all the other reviews). Even though the plot isn't generally the sort of thing that interests me, I was too delighted to see more of the author's work that I was willing to overlook that.
How I Liked It: I admit, I was on edge since completing several volumes of Powers, specifically the fact that all the female characters have bodies built for the straight male gaze and are frequently (and unnecessarily) naked and in risque poses (and the men, well, aren't). Also, the writing has them frequently little more than foils for male attention (and that's even with the fact one of the main characters is a female detective and it's allegedly a crime series).
Moore, a straight male, managed to tell a multi-volume story in Strangers in Paradise with not only diverse female characters, but ones with non-porn fantasy bodies (even Casey, the former cheerleader turned Vegas showgirl who struggled with body image and suffered from anorexia before getting enormous breast implants) and a variety of shapes, not to mention the equal amount of male and female nudity. When critics have noted that Strangers in Paradise is a series that attracts women to comics, they often miss the fact it's because the female characters therein are treated like human beings.
Thankfully, Moore keeps up this practice in Echo. Although several elements of the plot require near or almost female nudity (the main character does, after all, get a strange material affixed to her body that she can't remove) Moore handles it in everyway Powers didn't; non titillating angles, realistic shapes, and nudity/undress only when it's called for by the plot. He also has at least one nude male and half-naked male. Also a note for Powers, Moore creates a woman flying through the air on several occasions and she's leading with her shoulders, not with her breasts.
But enough of that, how about the story, you're wondering.
It's not usually my interest, but Moore's even plotting, complex characterization, and sharp dialog make it a fascinating page-turner. Somehow, the espionage drama doesn't quite take on the (no pun intended) cartoonish quality that Strangers in Paradise's crime storylines sometimes did, further showing Moore's evolution as a storyteller.
The themes of the book are clear (humanity's relationship with war, technology, and the ethics involved with both) and each chapter opens with a quote. While in lesser hands this could become heavy-handed and even preachy, in Moore's it's a quiet, contemplative device and he offers no solutions, mostly leaving the readers to decide for ourselves.
The artwork is rich (if not as artistically surreal as Strangers) and I found my only complaint in the fact Moore's females can often share too similar facial characteristics. There's not enough distinction physically between the characters of Annie and Julie, for instance, the main really being just hair length (although in color they differ apparently, the comic is in black and white). Also, when a character finds herself aging backwards, and knocking from thirty-one to twenty-one, it isn't the sharp distinction the characters themselves make it out to be.
Overall, the book's flaws are minute compared to its assets and Moore distinguishes himself as more than a one-series author with this masterpiece about technology, warfare, and the nature of mankind.
Notable: A character from Strangers may or may not make an appearance that is well-handled and thankfully unreminiscent of a labored crossover or give the feel of a spin-off.