Vasion #1-3
Publisher: The 2nd Coming Comix
Writer: Christian Hall
Artist: Nate Johnson
Cover: Nate Johnson
Vasion comes out of the gate with a huge battle and high stakes that spans three issues. In some ways it also feels like we’re coming in at the end of something epic given the scope of the villain, Devour and the chaotic battle to end him.
To get us acclimated to the world of Vasion is a very heavy intro that covers a lot of ground and backstory. As thorough as it is it’s actually full of plot elements that we’d probably like to see. This also reinforces the feeling that even though you’re reading the first issue it feels like you’re walking in during the climax of the final act. There’s not much character development here and we seem to get more information regarding the villain, Devour, than we do anyone else. So there’s no real build up nor any connection made with any character giving you a reason to care who lives or dies.
As fas as the story goes it’s a pretty uneven path as we get more depth from the intro than in these three issues. Also much of the dialogue and caption boxes over explain what’s taking place in the panels. Nate Johnson’s art does a nice job of moving the events along but the constant explanation of exactly what you’re seeing is frustrating and unnecessary. There’s a nice sequence where the story flows a little better that takes place between Capt. Anders and Comm. Wolford. It’s just the two characters forming a plan and letting the story develop without being reminded what’s happening in the panels. Thankfully the repetitiveness does happen less by the third issue.
The art starts off a little rough in the first issue but you can tell where Johnson settles in and delivers some solid action scenes. He also plays around with some of the panel layouts which helps to keep things a little more exciting. By the time we reach the third issue things do look much better as the battle reaches it’s frantic pacing. As stated earlier he does a good job moving the events along and his characters are pretty defined and expressive. However it’s the style that threw me off as it looked like an attempt at early 90s Joe Mad.
Overall, Vasion has some bumps along the way but there are some bright spots as well. With as much backstory presented in the first issue maybe we can get a look at those events in a future series. There’s plenty of rich concepts in there that would provide some quality and can’t go wrong with a little world building and character development.
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