Splatterball
I am not certain why entirely I placed this one before the Plasm 0 issue in the blog - but I am starting to write, and sort of realized that it really does make more sense to really review it here first. After all, it came with the entirety of the binder and more than likely most people really read most of the included comic before sliding thorugh box after box to try and locate the cards and place them in order before reading. On the other hand, for many people (this guy included) the first real exposure to all of the Defiant universe was the Plasm 0 enclosed inside of the Previews. I still have my Batman faced Previews with the Plasm 0 and Deathmate bound within the comic - along with the Deathmate I ripped out and had a ton of glue on... Or maybe I sold that one.
Anyway, to see this comic and read it - it felt strange with so many different terms and sets. I really took to replacing a few words inside the text - they were stated so often, and even confusing to the mind's ear. Replaced Org with God - probably the intent. But to have two teams so similar sounding - the Skullrenders and Sludgemakers - that seemed overbearing. In addition, the entirety of the comic, I really knew where the thing had to be heading - with the Great Grimmax being one of the comics near the end of the old Defiant line. This wasn't unpleasant - just unnecessarily confused with so many odd terms and sets. Much of the comic seemed confusing while other sections just seemed to bash over the head. Yes, we know he's a bad gambler. Yes, everyone's going to die. Even though the launch needed to be imbibed inside of the world - it is also odd to invest so much in either tangential characters, dying characters, or characters we really won't see much for almost a year. Certainly a gamble - it did everything it could to flip comics over at a time when many people (me included) were running from comics. On the other hand, the comic and the company did everything they could to really tick off collectors - artifically limiting the first edition, and then flooding with later ones. The comic is fair. Certainly sets up nearly the world - and the art is loose - and fun. In the spirit of the sets. On a side note - thanks to friends at Valiant boards for helping me find a few of these. I actually mis-placed all of my copies - and only had the CGC Variant still around - and then my baby found the two copies inside of the couch. |