The American Way Graphic Novel Review by Joel Mangrum
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About.com Rating
Wes lost his job because of the actions of the CDC and he accepts a job with their handling agency with no fuss? I don’t know about anyone else but if my livelihood had ended because of a lie told by the government I would be angry at someone and would spend a great deal of time letting it be known just how I feel but Wes just decides that it is the right thing to do to take the job. There should have been more setup of his taking the job because it is all he could find and gradually coming to see the value of the team.
But hey, no time for that we have other a lot more to cover before issue 8 is over.
Every superteam needs a variety of members all with different abilities, but come on, 15 members? There is little character development or character arc for any of them except for the New American. The only character trait that Ridley seems to want to explore is that of the stereotypical racist Southerner superheroes who are given nothing to really do but say degrading things to say about The New American specifically and black people in general. There are scattered character bites such as one of the members only caring about his salary and asking for raises each time one of the members dies or another’s evolution as a life form but they seemed tacked on.
The artwork by Georges Jeanty, however, really gets the job done. His simple artwork style is comparable to the art style of the 60’s Marvel Comics and I do not think that this was just a coincidence. His style really allows him to capture both the expressions needed to really sell the character-driven pieces of dialog as well as the brutal fight scenes in the later issues.
If you are in the mood for old-school art and if you are not easily offended by the use of certain racially-sensitive words (over and over and over and over) then I would recommend giving this book a try.
About.com Rating
Wes lost his job because of the actions of the CDC and he accepts a job with their handling agency with no fuss? I don’t know about anyone else but if my livelihood had ended because of a lie told by the government I would be angry at someone and would spend a great deal of time letting it be known just how I feel but Wes just decides that it is the right thing to do to take the job. There should have been more setup of his taking the job because it is all he could find and gradually coming to see the value of the team.
But hey, no time for that we have other a lot more to cover before issue 8 is over.
Every superteam needs a variety of members all with different abilities, but come on, 15 members? There is little character development or character arc for any of them except for the New American. The only character trait that Ridley seems to want to explore is that of the stereotypical racist Southerner superheroes who are given nothing to really do but say degrading things to say about The New American specifically and black people in general. There are scattered character bites such as one of the members only caring about his salary and asking for raises each time one of the members dies or another’s evolution as a life form but they seemed tacked on.
The artwork by Georges Jeanty, however, really gets the job done. His simple artwork style is comparable to the art style of the 60’s Marvel Comics and I do not think that this was just a coincidence. His style really allows him to capture both the expressions needed to really sell the character-driven pieces of dialog as well as the brutal fight scenes in the later issues.
Conclusion:
I felt that there is a lot to admire about this book and the themes is raises and the art is great to look at. Unfortunately the author seems to be in a mad dash to cram in as many ideas as possible instead of letting them breathe a little and letting them mature and develop. I do not know if it was Ridley’s call or the publisher’s but at least another 4 issues were needed to really tell this story right.If you are in the mood for old-school art and if you are not easily offended by the use of certain racially-sensitive words (over and over and over and over) then I would recommend giving this book a try.