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It was pretty good. Lots of interesting takes on characters, and it's Adam Kubert doing the art (which also looks nice). I can't wait for the second issue.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I haven't read it yet, but I have to admit that I'm skeptical -- even though I normally like Gaiman AND alternative takes on superheroes.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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The way Marvel's been working, it'll probably become a graphic novel, then a movie, then a PC game, then a lunchbox. Well, maybe not a lunchbox. Perhaps a mousepad, though.
Oh, bollocks! All Marvel did is reach for Neil Gaiman and get him to do them a comic that didn't suck, that's all. Posts: 2443 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Well, ae, I haven't quite figured out Pete Parquah's role yet. He's obviously Peter Parker, as evidenced by his fascination with a spider in his first scene, but he's just a guy working for Nick Fury. Surely there has to be something else there.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Well, it's fun so far. Hard to get a good sense of the series so far, but definitely fun.
It's a change-of-pace from what I'm used to from Neil Gaiman stories. Not as much dialogue. Not much yet of his ordinary-folks-encountering-the-mythopoetic (which he does really well). So far, it's a well-done adventure yarn.
I don't like the art much -- the facial expressions aren't very clear or interesting, and what with the glossy paper and the digital coloring it looks more like fuzzy computer game art than good comics art...
But it's definitely fun and has me wondering what'll happen next, so I'm waiting for the next one to come out Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Just started reading his novel, American Gods and I'm really impressed. Sad that I hadn't gotten around to reading him sooner.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I read the first issue yesterday. It's fun, but definitely Neil Gaiman isn't spending more than, oh, about an hour an issue writing the comic books. He already knows the history and the language, and it's simplicity itself just to insert Marvels into the various important powers of the period. Voila--1602.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I enjoyed American Gods, it was the first thing I read by Gaiman. But since then I've read through almost all his other work. He's a great author and no, American Gods isn't his best work by far.
Posts: 155 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I wouldn't say 1602 is "pushing the edge" in comics. DC has been doing "Elseworld" books for quite some time, many of them pretty good ("The Nail" or "Red Son" or "Doom That Came to Gotham" jump to mind). DC just did a JLA book set in Victorian era, had a wild west JLA, etc. Been there, done that.
1602 was decent, but if you read the Elseworld line, it is nothing new and in this case, fairly predictable...replace "Mutant" with "Witchbreed" and the story is no different than their current Ultimate Line story. Nick Fury vs. mutants, etc. We will have to see where it goes from here.
While not my favorite Gaimen work, American Gods is close. Neverwhere still holds that distinction for me, though his short story collection comes VERY close. "Snow, Glass, Apples" is a great piece of revisionist fairy tale. I thought it was supposed to be a movie on SciFi, speaking of that.
A better Elseworld concept for my money is "Red Son" in which Superman's baby carrying spaceship crash lands in rural Russia, not the US. Very cool take on the story that doesn't devolve into stereotyping the old Cold War relationship. Superman just doesn't fundamentally change his stripes, just has it seen through the glass of old school Communism (which is probably closer to Clark's real politics, when you think about it). Very cool.
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I've read issues 2 and 3 now... 2 was just OK, it moved the plot forward a bit but wasn't anything exciting. 3 was better, with the plot getting more interesting.
It's an OK series, but it really is more of a good straightforward adventure story, and not like Gaiman's more usual creative mix of imagination and insight.
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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