Evil Empire #1

By Max Bemis, Ransom Getty & Chris Blythe

The new series Evil Empire is off to a pretty strange start. It was definitely an interesting way to start a new book, but conveying just how each moment that was jumped to fit together would’ve helped. However, there is plenty of time for this in future issues. Overall, this book felt quite different and intriguing.

Max Bemis immediately throws the reader into a dystopian future before quickly pulling us away from what looks to be a tantalizing tale to seemingly start way back at the beginning. This served as a good way to hook readers into the main underlying concept of Evil Empire, while still allowing the story to start with its relatively tame beginnings. Focusing on a rebellious rock star and a progressive politician who strike up an unlikely relationship, most of this initial installment felt a little bland. True, the dialogue was well-written, but there wasn’t a lot to really grab your attention. This lengthier segment itself eventually shifts tone rather abruptly again, as a mysterious murder is introduced to the story. This seems to be what really kicks things off, as although the aftermath of this event proceeds fairly normally, the ending of issue #1 was a big shock and could signal a big turn in this seemingly average story.

The artwork by Ransom Getty (who has an awesome name, by the way) and Chris Blythe is the absolute highlight of Evil Empire #1. The visuals are terrifically realistic and the attention to detail is amazing. Every panel is really filled out well, and from characters to backgrounds, everything just looks perfect. Along with the illustrations, the colors themselves add tremendous depth and realism to each image. One of the best aspects of the artwork was the terrific panel layouts. The overall designs helped to convey the story in an interesting and often unique way, while other times this just helped to keep things interesting.

Overall, this first issue was a decent read. There wasn’t an awful lot to get too excited about through the middle, grounding plot. However, the beginning and ending of this book were quite exciting and hint at some excellent developments to come in the near future. Finally, the artwork was really quite astonishing. The visuals in this book are of incredibly high caliber and it will be great to see what Getty and Blythe pull off once the story really gets crazy.