Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Django Unchained #1 of 6
Vertigo Comics (DC)
Tarantino, Guera, Latour & Brusco
Quentin Tarantino's comic book adaptation of his new movie provides a very dense read in the first issue of the mini-series. The book definitely provides a ton of character development for the two primary characters, it launches them into the plot and give some background on them. It's a good read, but it might move a little slow, perhaps trying too hard to cover all the aspects of the movie. However, it's a good comic book and looks to be a promising mini-series to pick up.
The story is a western set during the times when slavery was still legal in the south. As the book opens, the comic introduces a character named King Schultz as he confronts a line of slaves being moved by a couple of cowboys. Schultz immediately asserts himself as a savoy and deadly individual. Par for the course with Tarantino, the dialogue is fast and witty as Schultz reveals his intentions to make off with one of the slaves, Django.
As Schultz and Django move through a nearby town the reader gets an understanding of what Schultz is after with Django. The comic eventually launches in the plot of a story: a manhunt.
The comic book is very dialogue heavy and that works as an advantage towards getting to know the characters. However, it works against the style of the medium in a number of places.
First of all, the pace suffers because of the heavy dialogue. Too many consecutive pages rely on a ton of discussion that feels like Tarantino just likes to show off how creative he is with his characters. While this works in a Tarantino movie, it feels like padding in a comic book. There is something to be said for just giving out the necessary information.
Secondly, there are scenes where it is difficult to determine where the dialogue is directed. For example, in the saloon when the Marshall is shouting to the duo inside, Schultz is talking to the Marshall and Django separately, but with little indication on the page which dialogue is meant for whom. Some sort of bold text would have been fine or simply breaking up the panel. It was confusing at times.
The book works because the story is a good one. A slave is freed to help a bounty hunter collect a debt. However, only the slave knows what the characters look like. A subplot develops where the slave is looking for his wife who was sold some months before. It's a good story and that helps to draw the reader into the deep book.
Schultz is another highlight for the comic because he isn't a straightforward character. He's a scam artist, which makes him intelligent and convincing. However, he is also deadly, which makes him a little untrustworthy and unpredictable. The book is definitely better because it reveals a lot of layers to this character in this one issue.
The artwork is very good. It's interesting that Guera's work is not very reminiscent of his work in Scalped. The comic has a more polished look and takes advantage of darker inking, but with less lines than seen in Scalped. The book does have a great western feeling to it which is exactly what this book calls for. It's a good comic book visually.
Django Unchained looks to be a real labor of love. This comic book series promises to be faithful to the original draft of the movie. If that is the case then I expect each issue to be very dense and very entertaining. I found this issue to be a very good comic book with a few flaws here and there. I recommend checking this out.
3.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
