Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan, 2016
Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
(July 2016)
I continue to love Saga. It is, as befits its name, now a sprawling soap opera of a
thing with supremely engaging characters and at least two or three genuinely
laugh out loud moments in each volume. Ghüs remains a joy every time he appears
on the page, and god help me but Prince Robot is somehow hilarious, despite
having proven to be an utter bastard.
Sadly, however, I think I’m done with
Sex Criminals. While the new character
of Alix is certainly intriguing, it was Suzy who really kept the story together
for me. As it broadens out and she gets less and less airtime there needs to be
something else to pick to the slack. Unfortunately for all concerned, the way
Fraction appears to have chosen to do this is by ramping up the self-indulgent metatextual
onanism to frankly repellent levels, and his acknowledgement that he’s doing so
only makes it worse. We’re far beyond cheeky, we’re far beyond arch, we’re even
(and this is the killer) beyond tiresome. I have limited tolerance for
fourth-wall-breaking metawank at the best of times and its
repeated use here is a total deal breaker. I get (believe me I get)
that one of the principal attractions of masturbation is that it’s less effort
than engaging with another person and keeping them amused as well. However,
there are only so many times that a writer can directly ask the reader to
finish things off themselves (as below) before you suspect that they’re just not
interested in giving the situation the attention you feel it deserves. Sure,
get in your principled lecture about whatever, but find a way to do it that isn’t
literally the creators talking to themselves. You’re having your fun, but there
is (at least) one other person here, y’know?
 |
| Worth a thousand words, etc... |
No comments:
Post a Comment