Promethea

Promethea 19-32

This was a tricky one to rate.  (It’s one long story, so I’m giving one rating for the whole series.)  J.H. Williams III set a whole new standard for an artist’s run on a title.  The amazing breadth of art styles that he covers across thirty-two issues is stunning.  Just about every one of his covers is an homage to a master, and the interior art continues the diversity of techniques.  

Love me some Mucha

Ross Andru

Van Gogh, obv.

Not a homage, just pretty.

After an issue and a half of building up the horrible things that would happen if Promethea were to return to the living world, the three pages that lead up to her climactic re-entrance is glorious rendered and satisfying.  

I love how Mick Gray inks her in the splash below.  He doesn’t go with the stark black of the other images, using a softer brown that emphasizes her compassion and otherworldly nature.

So I love the art.  A+ on that front. But then there’s Alan Moore’s writing.  I thought that things would get better after issue 23 with her return from the Grand Tour of the Spheres.  (By the way, totally weird that the lovers Barbara and Steve reincarnate as twin babies.) And for a while, they did.  Sophie-Promethea fights Stacia-Promethea, then there’s a fun mini-arc with Tom Strong. But then Sophie-Promethea reawakens and it gets all meta and preachy again.  Moore’s efforts to ground things with the FBI agents, the Painted Doll, and the screwing former and present mayors feel completely pointless. The incomprehensible final issue reads like an acid trip VH1 Pop Up Video in comic book form.  

Sidebar: I speculated previously about the point of the Margie and Bob running gags.  It turns out neither one has much of a payoff. Bob dies in between issues.  Margie gets verbally bitch-slapped one last time, and that’s about it.

So how do I rate something that’s Really Good on art but Stupid/Boring on writing?  I’ve decided to give it a Huh. The gulf between the two is just too wide to split the difference and give it a Nice/Fine. Only previous granted to Spider-Man/Black Cat, which was just too...disturbing/confusing for anything else.

I’d totally cut this if it wasn’t so damn beautiful to look at.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Huh.