REVIEW: Low, #1

[CBR News]

Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini may have a good sci-fi story in "Low" but issue #1 suffers in the execution.


Full review here.

[cc008]

First issues tend to be hit or miss a lot of the time. The premise of the book is really interesting and I'm a fan of Remender so I'll give it at least the first arc.

[Fantomexxx]

I would buy Low just for the art, every month. It is honestly that good. There is a kind of visceral line-work that reminds me a little of Sean Murphy, and the color design is just gorgeous.

color design.jpg

On top of this, I know the kind of potential Rick Remender brings to each book he writes. Every time he takes an idea and sees where it leads, all bets are off. Black Science is an obvious example of this, but you can even look at his Marvel work.

Gloss over all the amazing stuff he did in Uncanny X-Force, lets address the fact he just recently destroyed the Earth, transporting all the mutants to an alternate planet. Next he intends to bring back the evil alter-ego of Professor X, as the Red Skull takes the power of Onslaught from Xavier's lifeless brain. And that's Remender when he's confined by the rules of a Disney-owned franchise.

Low has a concept that is teeming with possibilities; perfect territory for a wild imagination to mine. This story is about our descendants' inevitable struggle for survival against an expanding sun that threatens to irradiate Earth and eventually consume it. It's an eerie, existential premise that tears at our own legacy, assuming we somehow survive mega-annums.

The ostensible protagonist of the book, a mother who loses her family in the very first episode, is singled out as a hopeful citizen in an underwater society largely consigned to someday burn alive with their entire species. You cannot help but want to see her succeed in those circumstances; those odds. Somehow she needs to escape Earth and save her people, the civil survivors who live in the deep trench cities. Opposing her are the disenfranchised vagabonds, who've banded together with ocean life along the desolate sea floor, a red wasteland with futuristic submarines floating above the dunes like airships.

sea floor.jpg

This could easily be the best science fiction comic of 2014. I'm hyped. Clearly the misstep was not giving this comic 5 stars.

[Yorick]

Have to agree with the reviewer. Parts of the art were just indecipherable and that really hampered my enjoyment. Not that the story was massively original. I will however give it another couple of issues to find its groove.

[NerdyBird]

Have to agree with the reviewer. Parts of the art were just indecipherable and that really hampered my enjoyment. Not that the story was massively original. I will however give it another couple of issues to find its groove.

Yes. This.

I think there is so much potential in this that I'll stick around for a 6 issue test run instead of the usual three. But without a doubt this isuue was a klunker.

[Kelly Thompson]

Hey all, reviewer Kelly Thompson here, just wanted you all to know that while I do still have some readability issues with the art, it came to my attention after my review was posted that the review copy I read was bad - especially in regard to the blacks and oversaturated colors - certainly as compared to the colors/darkness on a copy purchased on comixology.

I have submitted a revised/corrected review (3.5 stars) based on the correct/accurate book to my editors (though it may not go up until Monday). Apologies for any confusion.

[Kelly Thompson]

Annnnd, because reviews editor Steve Sunu is awesome, the updated/corrected review is up now. Thanks for your patience everyone!

[Dorktron]

Annnnd, because reviews editor Steve Sunu is awesome, the updated/corrected review is up now. Thanks for your patience everyone!

Cool, good to know. Thanks.

[Mathieu B]

I enjoyed this issue. The art gave it a very surreal feeling and it took me longer to read because I really wanted to take it all the details of this fantastic new sci-fi world. I really didn't think the issue would end the way it did. Looking forward to the next issue.

[Fantomexxx]

Hey all, reviewer Kelly Thompson here, just wanted you all to know that while I do still have some readability issues with the art, it came to my attention after my review was posted that the review copy I read was bad - especially in regard to the blacks and oversaturated colors - certainly as compared to the colors/darkness on a copy purchased on comixology.

I have submitted a revised/corrected review (3.5 stars) based on the correct/accurate book to my editors (though it may not go up until Monday). Apologies for any confusion.

Well played.

[AngelsandDemons]

"Crowded panels, a lot of characters and a plethora of technology means there's never a place in the book for a reader's eye to rest, to absorb and understand what they're seeing."

This line truly captured my sentiment about the fist issue. From the first page, you are thrown in a tumultuous maelstrom with an image that is difficult to interpret yet the dialogue is simple. Then, you are thrown into aqua bedroom of post coital bliss. Now, on paper, that sounds like the making of a superb action and drama...yet, throughout the pages, it was difficult to identify a focus. I finished the book thinking less about the mother and the post disaster world and more about time frame, technology, location, and what was occurring on the first page and its connection to the remaining pages. I look forward to reading issue two because I hope it begins to ground the story in an arc that I am willing to invest in.

[Sandinista]

I'm a Remender fan and I was very excited for LOW but this first issue left me cold. I felt the story was rushed with none of the imagination he displayed on the very first issue of BLACK SCIENCE. But the real issue with me was the art... I cannot for the life of me understand how people are raving about how "beautiful" the art was. The art was terrible. It looked like washed out watercolors. Distorted anatomy, blurred lines, indecipherable storytelling. It was painful. This is specially disappointing considering this type of story would benefit greatly from detailed worldbuilding visuals like BLACK SCIENCE's.

The story has loads of potential but I can't take that kind of washed out, liquid drawing so this is where I step off... and remember to avoid Tocchini's art in the future.

[Danny Rand's Other Fist]

As with a decent amount of first issues, it didn't blow me away but had enough in it to make me care enough and want more.

I am a very big Remender fan though, so I've got faith he'll smash it on this. As mentioned above, there is plenty of stories and ideas to use in this story and I can't wait to see how way-out it gets around what seems to be a grounded heroine.

[Joker]

Some of the pencil lines looked like they were drawn smaller than the reproduction, and suffered for it. I still haven't sat down and read it, but I thought it was beautiful flipping through it, the aforementioned production problem aside.

[stormtrance]

I agree with the general consensus of the first issue. Hard to tell what was going on at times, but there's potential. Plus it's Remender.