Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by Mark BagleyThe first creator-owned book by ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN co-creators Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, BRILLIANT tells the story of a handful of college-age geniuses who challenge each other to solve the mystery of superpowers. Can the best and brightest change science fiction into science fact? And if so, how will the world at large react? BRILLIANT is a thriller of the highest order. It is a story of how true power can either destroy or protect the strongest of friendships. It is the story of how the world will react when our true potential is finally unlocked. This fast-talking, whip-smart new series will thrill fans of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, POWERS and SCARLET. The first award-winning collection of Bendis and Bagley’s ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN has sold well over one million copies.
You know, when you think about it, is there a duo of creators who have earned more trust than these two? Bendis and Bagley put together one of the all-time historic runs on a comic with their efforts on Ultimate Spider-Man, and now they’re back with their first creator-owned collaboration.
Find out my thoughts on this book after the jump.
Have you ever been really excited about a comic, read it, came out of it not a fan, and then reread it just to make sure you weren’t crazy that what you just read wasn’t actually as mediocre as you thought it was? I hate it when that happens.
That happens with Brilliant.
While Bendis and Bagley are a dynamic duo, no matter how hard I tried to like it, I found the first issue of their new creator-owned series to be underwhelming and not befitting their standard efforts.
Interestingly enough, I think I could make this book better with a few simple edits. This issue has one major, major flaw: the ending. We get to the hook of the series in the last couple pages and then it ends with a full page shot of activity on a roof that…really shows nothing much at all happening. Really, I have no idea what happens. It’s like the book just ended and there was no real plan on a cohesive finish to the single issue narrative – like it was strictly looked at from a trade level and they chopped it in 22 page increments, however they may lie. I actually kept flipping back and forth through the comic to figure out if somehow there was a printing error. There wasn’t.
Realistically, if this book ended at the moment lead character Albert said “Show me.” I would have actually probably liked this comic overall. It’s odd how much of a difference that made, as the ending threw me off so much it took me away from the entire experience of reading the comic.
There are some reasons to enjoy this comic. While the characters are still a little underdrawn, there is enough on the table (particularly between Albert and the oddly named Kindred, and I dig Amadeus) with them and the general plot (I liked the discussion about bridging the gap between science fiction and science fact) that you could see why this book could be good down the line. It’s an interesting premise, and the characters seem to fit well together even though their aspirations seem to differ wildly as far as what their plan is to do with their work.
But even amidst the parts I liked, the book reads awkwardly. There is a sequence in the middle that settles an age old debate between Albert and Kindred that is about as awkward of a read as you can get (the “GROAN” line of the month: “I’m hysterical and I’m wet!”), with dialogue distracting from a fun idea.
And not to be too nitpicky, but the character names are a little rough. The five leads are: Amadeus, Albert, Kindred, Izzy and Marie. Take a guess who is the likely villain of the group. Think REALLY hard. I bet it’s going to be Amadeus! That is of course ignoring the very atypical and not naturalistic names that are chosen. It’s one thing to be unique, but it’s another thing to be just picking names to sound different.
Continued belowBagley’s art is something I’ve long loved…on Spider-Man books. The thing I’ve come to realize is I often have technical issues with his work, but his Spider-Man is just so damn fantastic. This book is overall a decent looking book, but there are some really awkward and poorly realized scenes. In particular, the scene where Izzy is introduced and hugs Albert. In the hugging scene, he looks like a midget version of himself resting his head against Albert. It’s completely perplexing and hard to even understand what happens.
Things like that happen across the board, and like with the writing, the ending is bad from an art standpoint. Basically, it is a very static and unattractive page from any way you look at it.
I think the reason why I came out of this read so frustrated is because I know how capable of a team Bendis and Bagley are, and you can even see that in parts of this book. If someone told me three issues down the line that this book is pretty much the cat’s pajamas, I would believe them. But in terms of an introductory issue, this reads like a elementary school effort for a Masters class team, which is quite the shame.
Final Verdict: 5.0 – Pass, but keep your ears up for good word later
