Comic Review: Eureka: Dormant Gene #4
Story: Andrew Cosby and Jaime Paglia
Script: Jonathon L. Davis
Artist: Mark Dos Santos
Color: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
Cover A: J.K. Woodward
Cover B: Mark Dos Santos
Editor: Matt Gagnon
Assistant Editor: Dafna Pleban
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
In my previous review of issues #1 and #2, I made this comment:
Slightly annoying is the fact that the regular characters make only the briefest of appearances. And the main attraction of the show — watching Sheriff Carter use his basic horse-sense to deal with problems that the geniuses around him are too “intelligent” to be able to solve on their own — is missing from these issues.
Then, in my review of issue #3, I quoted the above comment, and added this:
In this third issue, however, my prayers have been answered: we get to see Sheriff Carter a lot more. Although he ends up playing the straight guy to an ongoing (and, I have to say, somewhat tiresome) joke, this issue does a great job of setting up what I expect will be an excellent payoff in the next issue. The payoff, that is, of the Sheriff jumping into action to right the wrongs of people who basically have too much brains for their own good.
I have to admit that I wasn’t actually praying, it was just a figure of speech. But if I were praying, those prayers would have been answered — but not for the reasons I thought. I had been hoping Sheriff Carter would jump into action, because that is the whole formula that makes the TV show so much fun. Sheriff Carter has common sense, and he always saves the day using common sense while the super geniuses are too smart for their own good. But it actually turns out this whole write-a-comic-book-based-on-a-TV-show gives readers a chance to see something they won’t see on the TV show (at least, not until the actors get popular enough to negotiate a bigger part for their characters). The tricky part is doing that while staying true to the characters. After all, that’s the whole reason we like Eureka. That, and the town itself.
So in this installment, Sheriff Carter doesn’t jump into action as I had been hoping. Instead, it’s a different Carter, it being Zoe’s story and all. So the zombies take over the town, and Sheriff Carter and Jo get knocked out. For the rest of the story, I’ll let you buy the comic. I don’t want to ruin it for you.
The good thing is that, although Sheriff Carter doesn’t save the day in the end, this comic still retains the inside joke, which is common sense non-geniuses solving the problems created by geniuses with no common sense. Also, if you like zombie stories, or if you like to make fun of zombie movies, you’ll like this story.
So, the payoff at the end is emotionally satisfying, and we still get to enjoy the basic premise of the show that makes Eureka special. So, my imaginary prayers were answered, but not in the way I was expecting. The coloring is the best part in regards to the artwork. The penciling and inking is competent enough not to be distracting, although not amazing. The color work is the best thing about the visual presentation, so the overall effect of the artwork is solid.
I also haven’t mentioned before how cool I think the covers are. Each installment has various covers, and they are rendered more in the tradition of a painting (I think it’s digital, but the effect makes it look like perhaps it’s an acrylic painting), rather than a comic book drawing. The effect is quite good, at least for my tastes, and I gotta give props to the artists regarding the covers. Quite impressive.
