[Comic Review] Pilot Season 2010 from Top Cow

Review by Chris Beveridge

Mania Grade: C+

The Round-up:

Each of the books hits about 22-24 pages or so and reading them all in one sitting was an interesting experience. The main theme that you come away with here is that they're all modern day tales involving guns, guns and more guns. The violence isn't overdone or anything, it's not particularly grisly and hardcore, but having it be a dominant theme across all the books doesn't paint Top Cow in a good way since it stereotypes a lot of what they offer. Of the books here, there are some good choices to be tapped but it's hard to say what form would be appropriate. The goal is to launch a new series off of it but most of them are viable in some form.

The only title I would outright dismiss is the 39 Minutes one as it doesn't feel well thought out nor drawn well. The others could all find life somewhere else with some tightening up. Most of them come across as titles that would work well as a weekly serial drama on TV, particularly The Asset and 7 Days From Hell. The latter is the only one to use something not from the real world and that gives it a bit of an edge since it opens up the possibilities a bit more and it felt the most fleshed out and the least showy in terms of trying to cover too much too quickly. The Asset has the sexpot appeal of a seductive assassin, but in comic book form it could get old very fast. Crosshair has a lot of potential, but it's one that would work best as a very specific length series or an original graphic novel with a set length from the start so it can tell a cohesive tale. Forever is in much the same boat. It's one of two stories that really had me interested in what the larger story is but it also is one that is better served by being a defined work rather than open ended.

And that's what got me the most about this Pilot Season project. None of the titles here feel like they could support a monthly title in the slightest. Forever is the only title that left me wanting to know more of the story, though Crosshair could make for a decent action series if it was started fresh without quite so much ultimate man material crammed in so quickly. The Pilot Season approach is one that I really like, and people in general like such things as evidenced by American Idol and a slew of hopefuls, but this season has very little to offer or get excited about. Almost everything would work better in some other form or not at all in the case of 39 Minutes.