Warren Ellis' writing is always fantastic. I really enjoyed this. It was an exciting adventure, without overshadowing the character work. The "What If" issue at the end is delightfully dark and horrifying. Very good!
I went with 3 stars for the story, minus one for the artwork. The story was good, but it all ended rather abruptly. I felt that Ellis was on the verge of setting up something really interesting with Forge and the whole Alternate Earth bit, but then it's all over in one sudden swoop and the next volume goes into a completely different direction. I'm a huge fan of Ellis' work. While I did like this story, this was certainly not his best. It doesn't even begin to compare to Whedon's run. I kind of felt like it just gave up at the end, thus rendering itself forgettable.
My biggest criticism, however, is the art. More specifically the coloring and layout. It looked like every image was put through a low resolution filter - even the bright and sunny two-page panel of Tian looked deprived of actual light. On top of that the paneling choices were strange and awkward. All of this made the action sequences nearly impossible to follow. I'm all for moving away from conventional layouts, so long as they work with the story. In this case, the story could have benefitted from some convention in that regard.
My biggest criticism, however, is the art. More specifically the coloring and layout. It looked like every image was put through a low resolution filter - even the bright and sunny two-page panel of Tian looked deprived of actual light. On top of that the paneling choices were strange and awkward. All of this made the action sequences nearly impossible to follow. I'm all for moving away from conventional layouts, so long as they work with the story. In this case, the story could have benefitted from some convention in that regard.
