One Coin Reads 2: RETCON, by Matt Nixon and Toby Cypress

RETCON, by Matt Nixon and Toby Cypress

2018

Here's another Image story book that I picked up at a discount (this one at ¥346). Was it worth it?

Sure, it was fine. I have this complicated feeling about Image books these days. It really is a space for creators to do their best and control their own work, but it seems like a lot of creators want to do something quite similar to each other. It makes sense: there are industry trends which occur organically and many creators are in a similar age bracket and have overlapping influences. But as a reader, especially a jaded old one, it can be numbing.

A bear for your Image bingo sheet

The stories are some sci-fi/fantasy hook, they tend to be a little quippy (kind of like the MCU films) but with adult words, and the art is generally a kind of Paul Pope lite. Of course some Image books break that mold, but a lot fall into group. RETCON is well-done enough, but the plot is like Image Comics Madlibs: An ex-military guy with a demon inside has to stop an alien from blowing up Earth to fuel its ship. The hook of the premise is established in the last few pages; they're going to go back in time to redo it all if/when they fail, to retcon reality, if you will.

It's all totally fine. If it were to come on TV on a lazy Saturday, I'd watch it, but I don't know how I could get excited about it. The back cover blurb sure is excited for it: "RETCON is fucking amazing and the best thing I've read in ages!" says someone. I didn't feel that. 

The thing is, it's not bad, it's very competent. And I love competent comics. I've been reading through Marvel Epic Collections the past few years, and enjoying them way more than I expected. A bland '80s Silver Surfer run that I had no nostalgia for was utterly compelling. I'm reading a totally average '50s EC Comics collection right now and enjoying, though not loving, it. This is the quality of what this team is doing. Totally solid contemporary work. 

An alien in a suit says a quip

I have to wonder though. There's a market for EC comics among people who have no nostalgia for the original comics. The draughtsmanship of it makes it of interest. Arguably the market for Marvel Epic Collections is rooted in nostalgia, but when I read comics from the 60s to the 80s now, they're really dense and some of them read a lot better to me as an adult than they did when I was a kid. I don't know that the contemporary school of Image books have the same median level of quality that those books did. Four issues read like one old Marvel, and the art is way less developed. Like, this artwork has vitality and a solid vibe, but it also feels dashed off. Will people want to get a big book of these kinds of Image titles in 30 years? Possibly, I don't own a crystal ball.

So was it worth ¥346? Yes. I read it, it was fine. The twist of the final issue should have been in the first issue. You have a book called RETCON and there's no retcon. Why wait till the end of the book to start the story? That's totally what makes so many Image books frustrating: the first collected edition is merely an appetizer for the main course, it's not much of a meal.