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Review: Apparat - The Singles Collection Vol. One
Apparat: The Singles Collection Vol. One
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Juan Jose Ryp, Carla Speed McNeil, Laurenn McCubbin and Jacen Burrows
Published by Avatar Press. $12.99 USD
If the entirety of this book was as good as Ellis' text pieces about it, this would be brilliant. Learning about the pulp fiction Ellis devoured as a child that inspired these stories, one almost believes this effort almost sacred in intent. Learning that one story was a nod to the dead genre of Airplane Adventure makes one almost believe Ellis had succeeded at it, even after one just read it and was dissatisfied. And to be told so strongly that Laurenn McCubbinn was the only artist who could do the story justice is to almost believe that maybe she is a good artist after all. Such is Ellis' power of persuasive prose.
But, when his stunning solos are over, one realizes that the singles in question are, like most bands' singles, hit and miss, and often rather lightweight. Let's go in the order published in the collection rather than order of quality.
"Angel Stomp Future" is but the latest example of Ellis' fascinating with body manipulation and alteration. Dr. Angel Antimony is a former "strangehunter" who is called back into commission to...well, Ellis loses the plot here. Mainly, she walks around talking to the reader and a handful of modified characters she comes across, and either pisses on them, kills them, or yammers about the new science, the old science that spawned it, and the implications of it. If you're turned on by hot women with dangerous new equipment, this is the story for you. Ellis kind of explains away the meandering of this story by saying he wanted to write something to Ryp's strengths, and indeed, Ryp is amazing here. He's certainly in the vanguard of comics artists who can blend the titillating and the grotesque in astounding ways. It's just not much of a story, and right away the "singles" concept is challenged, in that one would think these would be strong little stories that get in and out efficiently, with no need for return. This one seems more like when you have a friend over, as a kid, and you pull out all your toys to show him. Eventually, you settle on a few and construct some sort of story out of it, some world to explore, but "Angel" is more just the pulling out of the toys and remarking on how cool they all are.
"Frank Ironwine" is a pretty good little police procedural, coming up a little short primarily in McNeil's artwork but also a little in Ellis' script. Ironwine takes on a wet-behind-the-ears female partner and shows her the ropes. Frank has an extraordinary ability to hear changes in the air, such as electrons bouncing off each other before a phone rings, but mainly, he's an observant, careful detective who knows his city intimately. As in "Angel Stomp Future," Ellis eats up some pages with dialogue made up of Internet research, but while it doesn't advance the plot, at least it's interesting stuff. Ellis does cross the line of plausibility somewhat when the partner, De Groot, starts yelling at a suspect and ruining Frank's careful coaxing of a confession out of her--one would think that kind of thing would be taught out of anyone before they made detective grade, and prior to this, Ironwine had easily demonstrated that he knew what he was doing as a detective, albeit an unconventional one, so we have to accept that De Groot is a complete idiot to ignore this and start spouting off like she does. Not a major flaw, but it's a sour note in an otherwise good script.
McNeil has been drawing comics long enough that, frankly, one would think she'd be a little better at it than what's on display here. Any given panel is drawn all right, aside from characters having disproportionately large heads, but in continuity Frank never quite has the same face, going from Darren McGavin to Keith Richards to an old biddy you would help cross the street. At her best, she has some appealing similarities to Rick Veitch, but she needs to be more consistent. And her lettering is childish and inappropriate to this material.
"Quit City" is a good premise that works up to a point: former air hero Emma Pierson quits her glamorous gig and comes home, sad and bitter and in need of some old, true friends. It's a good set-up to something that could perhaps have gone on to be a longer work, or if Ellis was going to stay within this area of old ghosts and a specific community it would be much like Brian Wood's stories in Local. But he goes in a direction that doesn't quite come off, as Emma visits what seems to be a literal ghost, the junkie, would-be rock star boyfriend she left behind when a drug-induced blow caused her to lose their unborn baby. Whether the ghost is real or in her head isn't important, and it's not that it's a bad idea at all; I just didn't find it moving. For her part, I at least have come around to accepting that what McCubbin does with her Photoshop manipulation of posed photos is Art, and it's pretty well-staged aside from some over-emoting on the part of the poseurs. However, I still find it distracting. There may be work of hers in the future where I feel I have been drawn into a real world rather than a fumetti, and I am hopeful that happens, as there is room for all kinds of comics art, but it just hasn't happened yet.
Though there were enjoyable aspects of all three previous tales, the one unqualified success of the book is "Simon Spector," a perfect marriage of Jacen Burrows precise and sinister artwork and Ellis' sharp mind. As he explains afterward, this story is akin to what drives his Planetary, the idea that there were darker forces and motivations behind the pulp heroes of yore. Spector is a kind of black Doc Savage type; he takes on cases that mean something to him, pops a pill that speeds up his brain enough that he can see all the angles of it, and goes in and gets the job done. This time, he has to once again thwart his nemesis, Christos, who has abducted the client's husband as a way to pull Simon in close, for revenge. The sequence where Simon takes the pill (which takes a week off his lifespan--there's a cost for heroism) and his brain starts working to pinpoint Christos' location is absolutely brilliant and cinematic, and the action sequence later is great fun as well. Of all these stories, Spector is the one you'd want to see again and that creates a sense of loss that that won't happen. It's too bad it wasn't submitted for an Eisner last year--I'd have voted for it.
Ellis is apparently working on the "sequel" to Apparat, which will be 48 page one-shots instead, so that each can stand, spine out, on bookstore shelves. While the first outing wasn't entirely successful, it's still a good idea and I look forward to Ellis' next efforts.
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Juan Jose Ryp, Carla Speed McNeil, Laurenn McCubbin and Jacen Burrows
Published by Avatar Press. $12.99 USD
If the entirety of this book was as good as Ellis' text pieces about it, this would be brilliant. Learning about the pulp fiction Ellis devoured as a child that inspired these stories, one almost believes this effort almost sacred in intent. Learning that one story was a nod to the dead genre of Airplane Adventure makes one almost believe Ellis had succeeded at it, even after one just read it and was dissatisfied. And to be told so strongly that Laurenn McCubbinn was the only artist who could do the story justice is to almost believe that maybe she is a good artist after all. Such is Ellis' power of persuasive prose.
But, when his stunning solos are over, one realizes that the singles in question are, like most bands' singles, hit and miss, and often rather lightweight. Let's go in the order published in the collection rather than order of quality.
"Angel Stomp Future" is but the latest example of Ellis' fascinating with body manipulation and alteration. Dr. Angel Antimony is a former "strangehunter" who is called back into commission to...well, Ellis loses the plot here. Mainly, she walks around talking to the reader and a handful of modified characters she comes across, and either pisses on them, kills them, or yammers about the new science, the old science that spawned it, and the implications of it. If you're turned on by hot women with dangerous new equipment, this is the story for you. Ellis kind of explains away the meandering of this story by saying he wanted to write something to Ryp's strengths, and indeed, Ryp is amazing here. He's certainly in the vanguard of comics artists who can blend the titillating and the grotesque in astounding ways. It's just not much of a story, and right away the "singles" concept is challenged, in that one would think these would be strong little stories that get in and out efficiently, with no need for return. This one seems more like when you have a friend over, as a kid, and you pull out all your toys to show him. Eventually, you settle on a few and construct some sort of story out of it, some world to explore, but "Angel" is more just the pulling out of the toys and remarking on how cool they all are.
"Frank Ironwine" is a pretty good little police procedural, coming up a little short primarily in McNeil's artwork but also a little in Ellis' script. Ironwine takes on a wet-behind-the-ears female partner and shows her the ropes. Frank has an extraordinary ability to hear changes in the air, such as electrons bouncing off each other before a phone rings, but mainly, he's an observant, careful detective who knows his city intimately. As in "Angel Stomp Future," Ellis eats up some pages with dialogue made up of Internet research, but while it doesn't advance the plot, at least it's interesting stuff. Ellis does cross the line of plausibility somewhat when the partner, De Groot, starts yelling at a suspect and ruining Frank's careful coaxing of a confession out of her--one would think that kind of thing would be taught out of anyone before they made detective grade, and prior to this, Ironwine had easily demonstrated that he knew what he was doing as a detective, albeit an unconventional one, so we have to accept that De Groot is a complete idiot to ignore this and start spouting off like she does. Not a major flaw, but it's a sour note in an otherwise good script.
McNeil has been drawing comics long enough that, frankly, one would think she'd be a little better at it than what's on display here. Any given panel is drawn all right, aside from characters having disproportionately large heads, but in continuity Frank never quite has the same face, going from Darren McGavin to Keith Richards to an old biddy you would help cross the street. At her best, she has some appealing similarities to Rick Veitch, but she needs to be more consistent. And her lettering is childish and inappropriate to this material.
"Quit City" is a good premise that works up to a point: former air hero Emma Pierson quits her glamorous gig and comes home, sad and bitter and in need of some old, true friends. It's a good set-up to something that could perhaps have gone on to be a longer work, or if Ellis was going to stay within this area of old ghosts and a specific community it would be much like Brian Wood's stories in Local. But he goes in a direction that doesn't quite come off, as Emma visits what seems to be a literal ghost, the junkie, would-be rock star boyfriend she left behind when a drug-induced blow caused her to lose their unborn baby. Whether the ghost is real or in her head isn't important, and it's not that it's a bad idea at all; I just didn't find it moving. For her part, I at least have come around to accepting that what McCubbin does with her Photoshop manipulation of posed photos is Art, and it's pretty well-staged aside from some over-emoting on the part of the poseurs. However, I still find it distracting. There may be work of hers in the future where I feel I have been drawn into a real world rather than a fumetti, and I am hopeful that happens, as there is room for all kinds of comics art, but it just hasn't happened yet.
Though there were enjoyable aspects of all three previous tales, the one unqualified success of the book is "Simon Spector," a perfect marriage of Jacen Burrows precise and sinister artwork and Ellis' sharp mind. As he explains afterward, this story is akin to what drives his Planetary, the idea that there were darker forces and motivations behind the pulp heroes of yore. Spector is a kind of black Doc Savage type; he takes on cases that mean something to him, pops a pill that speeds up his brain enough that he can see all the angles of it, and goes in and gets the job done. This time, he has to once again thwart his nemesis, Christos, who has abducted the client's husband as a way to pull Simon in close, for revenge. The sequence where Simon takes the pill (which takes a week off his lifespan--there's a cost for heroism) and his brain starts working to pinpoint Christos' location is absolutely brilliant and cinematic, and the action sequence later is great fun as well. Of all these stories, Spector is the one you'd want to see again and that creates a sense of loss that that won't happen. It's too bad it wasn't submitted for an Eisner last year--I'd have voted for it.
Ellis is apparently working on the "sequel" to Apparat, which will be 48 page one-shots instead, so that each can stand, spine out, on bookstore shelves. While the first outing wasn't entirely successful, it's still a good idea and I look forward to Ellis' next efforts.
Posted by ChristopherAllen at 1:09 PM [Link to this post]
1 Comments:
Thank you for that.
One question though: as far as I know, the titular singles are meant to resemble first issues in ongoing series instead of done-in-one stories.
If that is correct, that doesn't make the read any more satisfying, but IMHO the stories shouldn't be criticised for a fault that lies with the overall conception of the book.
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