Comics Review: "The Twilight Zone" #1
“You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead—your next stop, the Twilight Zone”. That’s right, there’s a brand new “Twilight Zone” series starting over at Dynamite Comics. Is the first issue of the series, written by J.M. Straczynski and with art by Guiu Vilanova, any good? Will fans of Rod Serling’s timeless classic be happy?
Me, I’m happy to see Twilight Zone back! And JMS might be the best choice for a scripter, seeing as he was one of the writers of the 1980s’ “The New Twilight Zone” show. You might not like his “I’m just gonna walk for a while” Superman or his other superhero works, but he’s a smart choice for a new Zone comic.
JMS’ writing in this story gets no complaints from me, and the art by Vilanova is easy on the eyes, realistic and perfectly serviceable here. I can’t overlook one other great thing that Dynamite has going for there books – the great covers by Francesco Francavilla. The comic looks and reads very well, the pace is tight and the suspense is there. There’s one thing about a modern Twilight Zone comic that troubles me a little. When you read the last page of this comic, you will see a “TO BE CONTINUED.” Normally this wouldn’t surprise me at all, since “one-and-done” stories are pretty much non-existent in modern comics. Everything is a part of a 4 or 6-issue long story, "written for the trade" and whether you like it or not, that’s just the industry standard now. Even so, having to wait a month or even several months to know how a Twilight Zone story concludes seems awfully weird, and I don’t mean “weird” in a Twilight Zone way. For me, the self-contained nature of each story is something that’s an inseparable part of Twilight Zone. Twist ending stories don’t really work that great when you have a month to forget about all the suspense the 22 pages managed to build up. It’s a shame that Dynamite didn’t take a risk and choose a different format for this series than the standard, decompressed storytelling of today. It’s a little like imagining an EC suspense comic being stretched out over half a year, hey, but what can you do (other than wait for the trade and hope the story is not decompressed all to hell). Still, I’m optimistic about this series and will check out the next issue, hoping the “TO BE CONTINUED” blurb doesn’t overstay its welcome. For now, it’s a good start and I hope the series will sell well and more new stories will be published. Give it a try. It’s a good first issue, a good property for Dynamite to pick up, and it just might tickle your fancy. Have you read "Twilight Zone" #1? What did you think of it? Let us know below! |
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