http://www.comicvine.com/alpha-fligh.../staff-review/
Printable View
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...review&id=3709
cbr's reviews confuse me. they praise the book, then give it 2 stars.
I'm confused that anyone could look at the pages with Northstar smacking the guard, Puck taking out Heather, and Mac's splash page and say this:
Quote:
Dale Eaglesham's art is solid and serviceable, but it simply isn't dynamic nor stunning.
Quote:
...the interiors just seem to be present and accounted for.
I'm guessing that's where the low rating came from (plus the reviewer thinking it was a lull issue), but I just do not get it. I thought the art won out over the writing this time around.Quote:
Eaglesham tells the story, gives the characters a range of emotions, but doesn't have the finishing touch that would really make this a "wow" book. I'm hoping that assessment is simply because this issue is largely low-key, but the action sequences that are present in this book seem rigid.
Weird since most of us feel that this is the best drawn Alpha Flight team since at least Byrne!
Thanks for pointing this out, Suzene - I'm glad someone agrees with me!
I LOATHE when they use the word serviceable. Dale shrugs it off and says "Yep, I SERVE the story before all else" (i.e. he places the story ahead of his own interests, which would be to draw flashy art and ignore the importance of storytelling, leaving the readers confused) but the word drives me nuts because it's obviously intended as totally dismissive and passive aggressive. GRRR!
Classic weasel-wording, yeah. It lets a critic put down the work without actually running the risk of saying anything negative or specific, thereby reducing the likelihood of someone with more knowledge coming along and saying that said critic is talking out of his nether-regions. ;)
I use it (well, a similar-meaning word which actually eludes me at the moment; 'functional', I think) when I want to say 'this does its job, but is not special. Doesn't sing, doesn't dance, doesn't even fall right.' It's meant as, at most, a 'damned with faint praise' thing; not to hide, be passive-aggressive or weasel, but to say 'yeah, whatever'. It's an open criticism when I do that.
Um, this isn't me agreeing with their assessment of Dale's work, just saying it's a perfectly cromulent word to use in this way.
- Le Messor
"There's nothing new under the sun, but there are lots of old things we don't know."
~ Ambrose Bierce
Delusional Honesty