One Coin Reads 18: Paradiso, by Ram V and Devmalya Pramanik

 Paradiso, by Ram V and Devmalya Pramanik

2018

It's been 300 years since the midnight event. Jack the tinkerman has the pneumas, but can the guardians protect him? You're not going to find out in this book, because it's merely the opening chapter in a new epic and nothing is explained whatsoever.

The logo looks pretty good. This photo can't do the texture of the cover justice

These discount books are always hit and miss. I know I'm taking a chance with them. I paid ¥267 for this, so I can't complain too much, but I pity anyone who paid full price for this, or worse, bought it in issues. This is a four issue book where nothing is established except the barest minimum of the world. 

The Redwaters are afraid of Darkspots

Paradiso is set in a post-apocalyptic earth™, 300 years after "midnight". Technology is mostly broken, and spoken of in religious terms. There are floating buildings in a city, and people live on the outskirts protected by Guardians. The rest is people walking or driving, and a fight. The hero, Jack, has a scrambled memory, so he doesn't know what he's doing, As a result, the book gives no idea to the reader what it's doing. It's just cryptic clues, broken flashbacks, and hints of a greater meaning. It's Image Comics bingo. 

Are you a Tinkerman?

I read Ram V's Blue in Green in January, and it was interesting. Since then, I've heard his name as one to watch, so I picked this up. I expected more. 

There's nothing wrong with post-apocalyptic™ stories, there's nothing wrong with slow burn stories with dense mythology. I assume this is the tip of the iceberg and Ram V has a bible detailing this whole world.  

There is a big problem with packaging a four issue collection and not even establishing who the characters of your story are or what their goals are. This is not the appetizer for an upcoming meal, this is merely setting foot in a restaurant and getting a whiff of the kitchen. 

The distortion here looks to be traditionally rendered, it was a nice effect

What could the creative team have done to make this better? If they insist on this pace for their book, the initial collection should have been twelve issues. A book like Monstress is very dense, and they opted for a larger first collection and it paid off. That book was a lot to take in, and at the six-issue point I was not sold on it, though the art got me close. Having a proper arc in the first collection made the series much more appealing.

Ideally though, if you want a story this sprawling (and I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that the goal is to create a massive epic), it should simply be published in a single tome or two. It's difficult these days to produce a book without having income coming in, so I understand the need for smaller volumes. But this was not enough.

The pneumas

The art of the book is decent though. Some places it looks really good, in others it's merely serviceable. But it is vibrant. The colors are pretty good as well. It's a brown-looking book, which suits its settings while still being drab. The characters don't pop off the page, but they don't fade into the background either.

The book is well made. There's no problem with the talent working on this. Whether you want to come back for more would depend on how much of an impact it had on you/how much disposable income you have. For me, there are so many post-apocalyptic™/sci-fi books on the market, I don't know what sets this apart.

The floating stuff looks cool

My immediate thought when I got to the end of this book was frustration at how little I knew any of the characters or what it was about after reading the first collection. It's unacceptable. The only motive for me to read more is that I'm being so bitchy about it in this review that I feel like I owe Paradiso a chance to prove me wrong. But I don't have time for that.