Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Infinite Vacation 1 Review


What you need to know: Mark lives in a world where alternate realities are up for sale, and buying and trading your way through unlimited variations of yourself is as commonplace as checking your email or updating your status. But when other "hims" start dying suddenly and he meets a mysterious girl who wants nothing to do with "life-changing," he'll learn the truth about the universe he stumbles through, and what happens when your vacation turns on you.

What you'll love


Fresh High Concept:
They say there are no new ideas, and they are probably right. Spencer definitely hits on concepts that have been previously explored, the trick is to take something that's been done and turn it on it's ear and Spencer more than does that here.

The Human Condition: It's been said so often that it's now in danger of becoming a cliche. The best story are ones that explore the human condition. Infinite Vacation holds a mirror to our consumerist culture and forces us to examine ourselves. Spencer finds a way to comment on life which being preachy or sappy.

Pushing the envelope: I'm a huge fan of being creative with comic pages, I love writers and artist that push the bounds of the genre. There's one scene in particular where there is a photo of a real person in the book, it's quite jarring at first, I actually turned back to make sure it wasn't a advertisement.

Modern: The danger in having a book that hits so close to the present is that writers have a tendency to get too cute with the material. Spencer avoids this pitfall masterfully. The book is modern and relevant at the same time. I can see people ten years from now reading this and the book holding similar resonance.

Spencer: I've proclaimed(on more than one occasion) that Nick Spencer is the Kevin Durant of comics. What I mean by this is that Spencer, like Durant is not a household name, but is clearly on his way to being at or near the top of his industry. This must be what people felt like when Bendis burst onto the scene.

What you won't: There's not much dislike, the art is kind of trippy but I think that's the point.

Bottom Line: If Morning Glories didn't exist, this would be the book that would turn Nick Spencer into a star. Get on this one early folks. I think we have a great one on our hands.

Grade: A