"China - the late 1700?s. High up in the mountains, in a poverty stricken village, lives a young girl. On a bright sunny day she's called back home to discover that her whole family have been slain in a vendetta attack. Could it be the local Bao Gang, known for their bullying antics, opium smuggling, and employed by a wealthy farmer to stop the village from rebelling - or someone closer to home? The smash-hit sold-out four issue mini series is now offered digitally with an additional gallery of cover art by Kit Wallis."
O estilo leve e influenciado pelo manga do ilustrador confere algum interesse a este comic. A premissa poderia ser interessante, se o argumentista não a tivesse desenvolvido com o nível de competência de um adolescente semi-letrado a escrever uma composição na escola para um professor entediado. Na China do século XIX a família de uma jovem é assassinada e o percurso de vingança vai revelar os segredos ocultos pela normalidade da vida na aldeia. É um arranque típico para muitas histórias, mas a sucessão desconexa de revelações e situações sem sequência lógica desperdiça qualquer bom princípio narrativo.
The stars are like an average more than a real rating of the book. I liked Kit Wallis' artwork a lot. It is like a loose-lined melding of Josh Middelton and Takeshi Miyazawa. This handsome hardcover showcases that well.
The writing, however, is awful. Someone should tell John Sheridan that just because the story is set in 18th-century China, it doesn't mean all the dialogue should read like a bad translation. The story itself is around average, I suppose (I do wish to be somewhat kind), though lacking in meat.
Enjoyable only in the abstract. It's easy to groove on the lush, dreamlike art, but it's nearly impossible to get into the story, which remains at arm's length, vague, and finally unsatisfying. Nothing memorable, iconic, or emotionally fulfilling here. Just some pretty pictures.
The plot is insubstantial, and while I liked the art style well enough, I found the choice of setting really odd: nothing about the art has anything to do with the setting. Even the clothing is anachronistic - shapeless t-shirts and shorts, in ancient China? Really?