Written and Illustrated by Ian Churchill
“INTRODUCING: MARINEMAN!”
Hulk, Supergirl and Uncanny X-Men superstar artist IAN CHURCHILL brings his all-new creator-owned series to Image Comics! Steve Ocean is… MARINEMAN! A marine biologist and TV presenter; a man blessed with good looks, a good job,†a good circle of friends and a life many would aspire to. But Steve Ocean also has a secret–a secret, which, if revealed, could throw his whole life into disarray!†With underwater action and adventure all the way, MARINEMAN may just turn out to be the comic book you didn’t know you were missing!
Image has quite literally been the “Do No Wrong” company of the year. We’ve had smash hits with Chew and Morning Glories, Robert Kirkman writing a butt ton of books that everyone has been reading and everyone has been loving, and a large amount of mini-series that are actually worth more to buy in singles than in trade! So can the “Do No Wrong” streak continue with Marineman #1, the new book from Ian Churchill? Find out after the cut.
If there ever was a combo breaker before, it’s name would be Marineman. Marineman is not a bad comic, per se. Occasionally, a comic will come out on the market that simply “is.” It does not really push any boundaries or make a name for itself within it’s first issue, nor does it do anything particularly wrong, leaving for an enjoyable enough read. However, when it comes down to being compared to other recent entries at Image, it’s just nothing to get jazzed about.
As Churchill explains in the back, the majority of the comic is his tribute to the more fun era of comic bookery in which we had titles like Marvelman by Mick Anglo (which you can find reprints of at Marvel now). Marineman is one of the first ever heros that Churchill created, and it felt fitting to him to bring that character to life in this new style at this time. For that, I certainly enjoy the comic. It is rather fun. The characters are still just as sassy as the era they so seek to emulate, but the dialogue is more refined to fit our current standard for writing. The comic is actually quite filled with dialogue. The first page is a testament to the amount of reading you’ll be doing throughout the entire issue, and that truly does make the comic more worth the money. You can also tell Churchill is interested in the marine biology aspect of the story, as his interest in the topic is definitely felt through the tale.
However, that’s also the inherent problem – there is no real story here. First issues usually are about the hook to get readers to come back. We need some kind of catalyst that will send our hero in a particular direction, and the prologue of the story attempts to fill that hole – and it barely does it. The prologue instead is a rather unclear and short sequence that is only briefly mentioned later, and the big “twist” finale of the issue is that the new character is a girl. Color me a tad unimpressed there. Outside of that, there is no real reason to follow through on another issue. Steve Ocean is Marineman, but so? Is the comic just going to be about him documenting his adventures underwater? The issue leaves it rather unclear as to why we should care about Marineman at all, attempting to focus solely on character development and doing it in a rather stingy fashion.
It might seem like I’m ragging on the book, but I don’t mean to. I actually like Churchill’s style. I’m all for a fun book, and his art style certainly conveys it if the cover is any indication. The art is a tad cheesecake, and it works perfectly, even to the point that it’s played up in one of the opening scenes. While Churchill isn’t pushing any particularly boundaries in the art department either, the book has a very clean and rounded look to it, giving it a nice cartoonish fashion which actually helps to fit in to this whole “fun comic” vibe. To be perfectly frank, when a comic creator says he wants to create a book that emphasizes the entertainment value of comics and he delivers me this, I can agree with him on a very base level.
Unfortunately, in today’s world with today’s prices, a $3.99 comic that’s just fun doesn’t exactly do it for me. If Marineman wants to get a place in a pull, it needs to deliver much more – specifically, it needs a firm plot rather than a loose one. The last page of a first issue is very important, because it’s that “twist” or that “sequence” that ultimately defines if the reader will come back or not. Simply having us see a new character is actually a girl doesn’t really say much of anything about the story to me as a reader, and my continuation with the book is undecided. For now, it seems like Marineman has simply broken Image’s current winning streak of creator owned books, and that’s unfortunate.
Final Verdict: 5.4 – Browse
