Saturday, April 26, 2003

SOLO #10: Damion Scott Review



Come on, admit it, when you heard Damion Scott was doing a SOLO, you were a bit worried too, weren’t you? On the one hand, especially with the announcement of SOLO’s cancellation (I guess it was just too awesome of a concept for DC to continue with, and they’d prefer to publicize stuff like Dan Didio’s notes to Geoff on Infinite Crisis “Pages 16-17 – More casualties? Works for me” than to publicize one of the best books the company has, but que sera, sera), it was a shame to miss out on the total legendary artists who were scheduled to appear in the book in favor of a newer artist like Scott, and on the other hand, Scott’s last few issues of Robin weren’t just “not that good,” they were downright awful, appearing less like “trying something new artistically” and more like “barely trying” to the point where the news of Scott McDaniel taking over Robin’s art chores was the equivalent of hearing that Dave Gibbons was now going to be drawing Lady Death. Then there was the above cover, which didn't seem like this was going to be much of an improvement. So I can tell you, with a great deal of relief, that Mark Chiarello obviously is much smarter than I am, as his choice of Scott looks like a brilliant move, as the artwork by Scott in the issue is exemplary.

Sadly, the stories are mostly terrible.

However, a book like SOLO is there for the art, really, especially for a young artist like Scott (only 30 years old) who has never written a comic for DC before, so his stories (co-written with someone named Randee Carcano, except for the first tale, written by someone named Rob Markham) should not exactly have people’s expectations that high.

As for the art, in an intro piece, Scott explains, “Graffiti art is a major influence in my work. It speaks for my culture and is the style that most naturally flows through me. Throughout this book I’ve designed compositions that are my attempt to bring the “wylde style” to comic art.” Well, I believe Scott succeeds beatifullay at doing just that, filling the comic book to the brim with comic art in the style of graffiti. It is interesting and it is innovative, and this is just the sort of project that SOLO works so well with – letting innovative artists cut loose and do whatever they want.

The first story is a Flash one, evoking a bit of the Black Flash storyline by Mark Millar and Pop Mhan (as Mhan is probably the closest artist I can think of to Scott’s graffiti style), especially since, well, the Black Flash is in it. Each page of the story, while telling the story, is laid out like a mural, with no space on the page not being used fully for the art. The story, though, is extremely pedestrian. It is like a filler issue of Flash.

The highlight of the issue to me is the “Superman Is…” section. Scott draws eight pin-ups, each exemplifying a word Scott (and his “co-writer” Carcano…which is actually kinda creepy – he needed another person to help him come up with words that began with S, U, P, E, R, M, A and N?) thinks describes Superman. I wasn’t exactly impressed with the eight words they came up with, but the drawings – WOW. Earlier in the issue, Scott wrote about “Wildstyle” letters, which is writing in a very ornate way, to the point where it is difficult to read the words. Scott feels that it is worth it, as it forces the reader to take a close look at the art. The words for the “Superman Is” piece are all in “Wildstyle,” and it is extremely effective, especially Metropolis.

The third story is a piece where Scott goes back to the more generic style of art he used when he was drawing Batgirl. I was a big fan of that art style, and I was disappointed when he got further and further away from that style, but I see now that it was definitely holding him back. Still, it’s nice to see him draw in that style again (he used the same style when he took over Robin, until he dropped the style, and got really ugly looking), if even for a short story. Scott’s care for the character of Batgirl (as well as the female Robin, Stephanie Brown, who co-stars in the tale) is strong. The story, though, is not. Still, not a bad story. Just another pedestrian effort.

The final tale is a future story of Tim Drake as Batman and Cassandra Cain as a grown-up Batgirl, who work together to fill in the gap left by the original Batman. They are also romantically linked. Scott goes back to his graffiti style, and it works quite well. The story, other than the nice idea of needing TWO people to fill Batman’s shoes completely, is decent, but not great.

All in all, just on the great strength of his innovative work, which I think is a hallmark of the SOLO project, I will recommend this issue with reservation. The reservation is, of course, that the stories inside aren’t all that good. Still, some impressive artwork, which I was not expecting.

Read the Review

40 Comments:

Blogger ninjawookie said...

I really liked how he changed his style for Robin, to each their own i guess.

they should of put him back on batgirl though, he gave that title a lot of energy. Though, maybe there was too much since, her character was hardly developed.

I would have loved to see a Cameron Stewart Solo
Phillip Bond
the guy who drew deadenders
Frank quitely (even if it took him 5 years)
Where are all the female artists?

4/26/2006 05:04:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SOLO is getting cancelled? That stinks.

4/26/2006 11:35:00 AM  
Blogger MarkAndrew said...

There's a couple more Solo's left, though, right? We BETTER still be getting Sergio Aragones.

4/26/2006 01:59:00 PM  
Blogger Brian Cronin said...

Yep, Aragones is the next one. It MAY be the last one.

4/26/2006 06:59:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last I heard, the Brendan McCarthy issue will be the last.

4/26/2006 08:24:00 PM  
Blogger Brian Cronin said...

There ya go!

4/26/2006 08:26:00 PM  
Blogger MarkAndrew said...

*sigh*

Ooh. And I bought this. Really neat looking book. I'd-a rather it got away from all superhero stuff, though. Isn't this the first all superhero issue of Solo?

4/27/2006 05:43:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I got hooked on Damion Scott when he did a few issues of the Bat titles during No Man's Land, and I loved his style on the first 20 issues of Batgirl, so I was disappointed as his style evolved into the jointless, no-feet version of Batgirl through the end of his run. But then it kept evolving into his Robin style, which I like a bit more, though I miss his early style. I just hate his middle phase.

It was interesting to read in Solo though that it's hard for him to draw in an old style, so I guess I can kiss his early phase goodbye for good. I loved the Superman pin-ups though since they show his sense for design.

4/29/2006 04:36:00 PM  
Anonymous Generic Cialis said...

That cover art is pretty cool, I like to see Superman get of his civilian cloths off in a more heroic way, something more worthy of his legend.

9/10/2010 04:28:00 PM  
Anonymous Careprost said...

Nice post, I would like to request you to one more post about that Keep it up

3/01/2011 03:59:00 AM  
Anonymous Kamagra Oral Jelly said...

Hey, Really great work,I would like to join your blog anyway so please continue sharing with us,

4/14/2011 08:40:00 AM  
Anonymous careprost said...

Really great post, Thank you for sharing This knowledge.Excellently written article, if only all bloggers offered the same level of content as you, the internet would be a much better place. Please keep it up!

5/18/2011 07:47:00 AM  
Anonymous Generic Minipress xl gits said...

Això és realment interessant, ets un blogger molt hàbil. M'he unit a la seva alimentació i esperem que busquen més del seu missatge meravellós. A més, he compartit el seu lloc en els meus xarxes socials !

6/09/2011 07:50:00 AM  
Anonymous frank khalid said...

Well don't know whats going on but its not a Good way to do this. in my opinion we have to look again about this pt cruiser,lifetime fitness,iphone 5 jailbreak,function venues geelong

7/08/2011 04:49:00 PM  
Anonymous Networking solutions said...

Wow, Great post,Nice work, I would like to read your blog every day Thanks

7/18/2011 09:23:00 AM  
Anonymous Facebook Developers said...

I want to appreciate the author. I loved to read that. Thank you so much for sharing the post with all.

8/22/2011 01:52:00 AM  
Anonymous home exercises said...

awesome blog man, the things you have mentioned above are really informative and are

examples of your awesome writing skills and a good blog, marvelous work done star exercise home exercise equipment push ups

8/24/2011 11:04:00 PM  
Blogger Mohtasham said...

its a pleasure reading all these informative things. I really appreciate your mindset man, please tell me how can i contact you, because your articles are always informative and cool for learning, they always increase my knowledge chicken biryani recipe sms hindi friendship sms sms jokes latest sms winrar free download

9/04/2011 01:29:00 AM  
Anonymous kamagra oral jelly said...

Great loved it, will be waiting for your future posts Thank you for sharing

10/01/2011 06:48:00 AM  
Anonymous Kamagra said...

Great information you got here. I've been reading about this topic for one week now for my papers in school and thank God I found it here in your blog. I had a great time reading this.

11/07/2011 08:07:00 AM  
Anonymous Custom Logo Designs said...

There Is Obviously a lot to know about this. I suppose you made Some Great points in the Feature also.

11/10/2011 04:57:00 AM  
Anonymous Facebook Game Creator said...

Very good blog, keep up the good work, thank you!

11/14/2011 02:41:00 AM  
Anonymous young fashion zone said...

This is the exact info i’m looking for, thanks!

11/17/2011 08:36:00 AM  
Anonymous houston texas hotels said...

so interesting and useful blog. It's very useful for all. Thank you and good luck.

2/06/2012 10:53:00 PM  
Anonymous Ecommerce SEO Services said...

This is such an interesting and informative article to share with others. Keep up the good work and more power.

2/07/2012 08:01:00 AM  
Blogger Mohtasham said...

this is an awesome article must appreciate it, the ways you have explained above is really awesome, exercises to do at home l how to make chicken biryanil latest sms

6/13/2012 12:05:00 AM  
Anonymous jordanhousesc.org said...

Goodness, there's so much effective information here!

6/21/2012 06:54:00 AM  
Anonymous Create Facebook Timeline Cover said...

Thanks for starting this, it's a neat little exercise to learn about each other, and to remember how/why we got into this crazy business. So it doesn't look like anyone else is posting there answers here but I'll at least link to them.

7/05/2012 06:42:00 AM  
Anonymous Celebrity Blog said...

Wow this site is really awesome and informational to me. I must say this site is really awesome and impressive to me.

12/27/2012 12:52:00 AM  
Anonymous Paper Writing Services said...

Very nice and prominent tutorial. I’ve been absorbing all that you wrote on this topic. Paper Writing Services

4/24/2013 11:09:00 AM  
Anonymous Buy Custom Term papers said...

Awesome, can I say more? please keep the good work and update this blog often.

8/08/2013 03:56:00 AM  
Anonymous Hajj Packages said...

Great stuff here. The information and the detail were just perfect. Hajj Packages

9/04/2013 03:30:00 AM  
Anonymous Wholesale Towels said...

Very happy to see your article, I very much to like and agree with your point of view. Thank you for sharing. Wholesale Towels

9/04/2013 04:42:00 AM  
Anonymous Used Police Cars said...

Valuable information you got here! I would like to thank you for sharing your thoughts and time into the stuff you post. Used Police Cars

9/04/2013 06:19:00 AM  
Anonymous kurta collection said...

This place is the best place to learn to blog, thanks for sharing.

10/19/2013 08:38:00 AM  
Blogger raybanoutlet001 said...

nike outlet
toms shoes
ralph lauren uk
michael kors bags
ugg outlet
michael kors outlet
nba jerseys
oakley sunglasses
true religion outlet store
jordan shoes

8/08/2017 11:35:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

adidas ultra boost 3.0
michael kors outlet
nike air zoom pegasus 32
stephen curry shoes
yeezy boost 350
tom ford sunglasses
yeezy
michael kors handbags
kobe shoes
adidas nmd

8/18/2017 10:50:00 PM  
Blogger raybanoutlet001 said...

coach outlet
dolce and gabbana outlet
michael kors handbags sale
mlb jerseys
cheap jordan shoes
bears jerseys
michael kors handbags
pandora jewelry
nike outlet
michael kors uk

10/09/2017 09:46:00 PM  
Blogger Sarah said...

Be aware and choose the right travel agency for you that offers the best cheap Hajj and Umrah Packages including all the necessities that one might need during their journey. Remember, to pray for the health and long life of your loved ones and buy gifts for them on your way back.

3/22/2021 08:12:00 AM  
Blogger NFL Game said...

Here is an updated college football TV schedule for the 2023 season, including weekly results and links to live scoring. This article will be updated throughout the season as more TV channels and game times are announced, through the bowl season and the College Football Playoff.For more info visit our site:Watch Alabama Football Live Online

12/10/2023 09:46:00 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home