Drawing Blood #11 // Review
Shane Bookman is finally being afforded an opportunity to meet the man at the top. He's remarkably relaxed about the situation. At least he appears to be remarkably relaxed about the situation given everything that's at stake. The gentleman in question has a relaxed demeanor about him that might be making Shane a bit relaxed even though the gentleman is towering over him in Drawing Blood #11. Writer David Avallone and artist Ben Bishop are joined by inker Jason Moore and colorist Luis Antonio Delgado in an issue of the comic book-based crime drama as it reaches a particularly tense moment.
The gentleman in question is someone Shane owes money to. And it’s not just a little bit of money either. It’s $2 million. And seeing as how the gentleman in question is a rather big player in the Lithuanian underworld, there’s a good chance that failure to pay-up could cost him his life. The good news is that Shane was co-creator of one of the most successful indie comic books in history. He may not own much of “The Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls,” but he DOES own the rights to a live stage adaptation. There’s bound to be some interest in a musical adaptation of the popular comic book characters.
Avallone juggles a lot of different elements in comedy drama, about a down-on-his-luck artist who fortune has favored in the past. The overall premise has some appeal. However, so much of the drama that claims to the page between the major scenes, feels a little bit less than interesting. The people in Bookman's orbit I haven't given enough chance to be themselves outside of his presence. As a result, they seem kind of semi-formed. Bookman's life would seem a lot more anchored. If the other people around him were a bit more fleshed-out.
With Bookamn as the center of the narrative, the visual run the earring of him is going to be more important than anything else. Thankfully, the art team does a really good job of a rendering his mood in a variety of different nuances that all hit the page in a very complicated way. However, it's a bit difficult to relate to a character who is in over his head at this much. Someone who's also managed to be very successful over the courts of his life at the same time. When it's just him on the page and there's very little else going on visually, it can be rather difficult to engage with the story visually.
The series makes for an interesting trip across the comics page. The latest issue seems to be moving in a direction that will ultimately wrap up the whole thing. But the overall tension in the series hasn't been maintained well enough. And so the fluctuations in tension that have been me entering through the series make it a little bit difficult to feel all that close too. And that's kind of important with a drama like this. That being said, it's solidly entertaining.
