Reviews 

Review: EGOs #1

By | January 16th, 2014
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

The folks over at DC Comics have been struggling to come up with a version of “Legion of Super-Heroes” that’s been able to sustain itself for very long. They should take a look at Image Comics’ “EGOs”, because some of the answers are right here.

Written by Stuart Moore
Illustrated by Gus Storms

A twisted far-future epic! An aging hero risks everything to rebuild his former team – but to do so, he must cross a line with his wife that can’t be uncrossed.

It’s a hell of a thing to start a story with something you call the “Epilogue”, but Stuart Moore and Gus Storms seem to be all about pushing around and messing with this world as much as they want to, both for better and for worse. Over a disassembled chronology, we see the rise a fall of a heroic team (EGOs), we see how a society is barely left hanging on, and we see a “Galactus-esque” threat that is definitely the cause for action. All of these contain surprises and twists to them, some having more of an impact than others. You are asked to accept the world as it’s presented and move on to the next concept very quickly. “EGOs” asks you to take a lot in and it jumps around awfully fast, but it’s ultimately worth the effort.

The best compliment I can pay to “EGOs” is that it’s willing to break storytelling rules like these in order to deliver something that makes you more of an active or attentive participant in the reading. “EGOs” gets away with asking its characters and concepts to be more multidimensional and interesting than, say, the “Legion” comics at DC have been in a similar setting. There are real stakes here, and questionable choices being made. In the back matter, Moore remarks that he wanted to throw out as much weird sci-fi concepts and complex developments that he could without the issue getting muddled. He succeeds, for the most part, and credits the artist for much of that.

It’s true Storms does supply a very clear storytelling sensibility for a comic that could have easily drowned in its own desire to come at the reader from so many angles. Storms describes himself as fresh out of art school and untested – that’s also clearly true. Storms uses clean lines to craft this world and favors an extremely straightforward approach to layouts over anything in the way of experimentation. Storms’ approach to cartooning reminds one of a less refined, less detailed, and less experimental version of what Nick Pitarra has done on “Manhattan Projects.” His approach does ground the book, which is a gain in certain ways, but it also makes one wonder what this book could be once Storms gets more experience and more comfortable. As with any young artist, his best work is ahead of him. “EGOs” still looks good. Fabulous, actually, from a design standpoint.

Storms (and Moore) are aiming for that vintage-style vision of the futurama from the “World’s Fair” feel for the design of “EGOs”, much in the same vein that “Legion of Super-Heores” has traditionally tried for. Storms pulls off a shiny vintage look, while still showing us new techno-things to tease our imaginations. Particularly strong are his character designs, which are imaginative and varied, even as he’s asked to throw out a few dozen in the first issue alone. A certain team-building segment even seems to partially visually recall a classic Liefeld X-Force lineup. We can say whatever we want about Liefeld’s pencilling, but his visual influence and the re-appropriations of his characters and style have turned out some fine comics as of late. Who would have guessed?

More than anything, “EGOs” feels like it’s playing with house money a little bit. At least, it’s acting like it is. Moore is throwing all kinds of stuff at the wall to see what sticks and Storms gets to stretch his admittedly “green” artistic muscles a bit on a book for a major publisher. The overall result is a comic book with a lot of great ideas, both conceptually and visually, but one that feels really raw. That said, the potential on both of those levels is so clear that you’ll have a good time reading this one and watching it grow over time.

Final Verdict: 7.7 – Browse. Take a chance on it.


Vince Ostrowski

Dr. Steve Brule once called him "A typical hunk who thinks he knows everything about comics." Twitter: @VJ_Ostrowski

EMAIL | ARTICLES