Frankensein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #7

Ok, let me go on record as saying that I have alot of criticisms for this series thus far, and have completely ignored them in favor of just enjoying the hell out of it, but this last issue of Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE bothered me.

I love Jeff Lemire and pretty much red anything he writes )I'm finally caught up on Sweet Tooth!), and I love Alberto Ponticelli's gestural artwork. My problem with this issue is twofold. I found myself checking the title page several times to make sure that Ponticelli actually penciled this book, and decided that he was either sorely rushed or had a different inker and colorist. The visuals were horrible!

Now, understanding that half of the characters are of the undead persuasion, I risk saying that the pages lacked their usual life. The fact that this trend got progressively worse until the final awful page, tells me that, if Mr. Ponticelli pencils his pages in numerical order, that he was horribly behind schedule.

I could say the same for Batwoman #7, but that's another post entirely. I feel as though the New 52 is loosing steam rapidly, which is really bad for new DC readers. like myself, who were hit with a barrage of exciting new books and adventures, only to taper off after the first story arc. Which leads me to another irk of mine.

Many of the New 52 story arcs don't seem to stick the landing. When we get the trade, it will undoubtedly collect issues #1-6, per industry standard. If this is the first issue of the next story arc, it makes no damned sense. Sure they could collect #1-5 instead, but to hell with paying trade prices for five-issue books. I just bought a Sweet Tooth trade that was eight issues long. EIGHT ISSUES. That's getting your money's worth. I don't know how the New 52 trade structure will pan out, and for most of the books, I'm reading, I'm not sticking around any longer to find out.

I know that comics take time to create. I've taken 5 months to write one issue of my own comic, and it isn't even laid out yet! I don't work for DC, however. So When a monthly title delivers in its first 5 issues and starts to feel rushed in subsequent issues, I feel that it is a momentum that can't be kept and I won't keep reading it.

This issue was a mess from the start and a train wreck at the finish. It took only a few minutes to read, which tells me that the story didn't move much, and in those few minutes, it was a sloppy mucky-muck of muddy artwork. I know Jeff Lemire is a good writer. I also know that Alberto Ponticelli is a marvelous artist. So it makes sense that, togetehr, they should put out an enjoyable sequential story. Well, it seems to me that both of these talents were victims of scheduling. Clearly, the quality that we've seen from this book can't compete with DC's deadlines. maybe they were too busy slapping a new ugly logo on all their books to realize that they were compromising their craft.

It would break my heart to drop this book. I like the creators and want to support them, but there are other creators I respect that I chose not to support this last month, because preordered this hot mess. Publish a week late if you have to, but please publish work that is consistent with what you have shown us prior to this.

The New 52 is falling off the wagon.

I give Frankenstein: Agent of CRAP two lumpy inkers down.

FAIL DC. You have failed these creators.