Post by Cory W. on Nov 17, 2006 1:34:09 GMT -5
New Universe #4 by Gregg Epstein
THE GOOD: To be perfectly honest, I'm not too familiar with the New Universe concept, but I think Gregg's work here is a step up from his past work. He's developed an ensemble cast and taken a dark edge to his stories, which is never a bad way to go. The characters are interesting, unique in powers, abilities, and personalities, and come off as relatively fresh. While at the moment it's a bit hard to see where Gregg is going with this story-arc, there's a definite sense of direction and like Gregg's building up to something more here. Many of the ideas he tries to convey are also deeply rooted in romanticism, both the art and the genre, and there are times where it really shines through. I just wish that Gregg was better able to capture this effort and develop it a lot more so that it could envelop readers like me and really help carry the story through.
THE BAD: I'm not a big fan of the present tense here. No offense meant to Gregg, but it just takes a lot of effort on the writer's part to pull it off and most can't do it. My main criticism of Gregg's writing in particular tends to be a rather flat narrative. He's actually capable of some beautiful descriptions, but there tends to be some very rough transitions from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. It makes a lot of his exposition come off as a collection of statements as opposed to a smooth flowing and well articulated story, and that can a lot of fun out of his ideas, drying them up quite a bit. Gregg also has a tendency to under explore many of his ideas and characters, which can leave a reader not feeling very connected with the protagonist or villains.
OVERALL: Despite being a somewhat short issue, I think Gregg manages to show us a lot of the New Universe here. I just can't help but think it'd all be much more engaging if Gregg had more of a poetic or artistic flow to his narrative, and not just by the books statements. As I said above, Gregg's capable of some beautiful descriptions, but he just needs to build more around them and put more emphasis on their deeper meanings, because I can definitely see the underlying themes and ideas in Gregg's writing. It's all just a matter of making me and others as readers feel more connected and invested in what it all means. In the future, I'd like to see a lot of Gregg's narrative fleshed out and a lot more structure build around each individual scene. More dialogue, more exploration of the characters' thoughts and feelings, and more raw and fast paced energy into his action scenes. Maybe he should try his hand at first person to see if that helps? If Gregg put in the extra effort to beef up his writing and give it the structure it needs, I could see myself really enjoying New Universe.
Read New Universe #4 at: m2k.omegacen.com/newuniverse/NU04.html
THE GOOD: To be perfectly honest, I'm not too familiar with the New Universe concept, but I think Gregg's work here is a step up from his past work. He's developed an ensemble cast and taken a dark edge to his stories, which is never a bad way to go. The characters are interesting, unique in powers, abilities, and personalities, and come off as relatively fresh. While at the moment it's a bit hard to see where Gregg is going with this story-arc, there's a definite sense of direction and like Gregg's building up to something more here. Many of the ideas he tries to convey are also deeply rooted in romanticism, both the art and the genre, and there are times where it really shines through. I just wish that Gregg was better able to capture this effort and develop it a lot more so that it could envelop readers like me and really help carry the story through.
THE BAD: I'm not a big fan of the present tense here. No offense meant to Gregg, but it just takes a lot of effort on the writer's part to pull it off and most can't do it. My main criticism of Gregg's writing in particular tends to be a rather flat narrative. He's actually capable of some beautiful descriptions, but there tends to be some very rough transitions from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. It makes a lot of his exposition come off as a collection of statements as opposed to a smooth flowing and well articulated story, and that can a lot of fun out of his ideas, drying them up quite a bit. Gregg also has a tendency to under explore many of his ideas and characters, which can leave a reader not feeling very connected with the protagonist or villains.
OVERALL: Despite being a somewhat short issue, I think Gregg manages to show us a lot of the New Universe here. I just can't help but think it'd all be much more engaging if Gregg had more of a poetic or artistic flow to his narrative, and not just by the books statements. As I said above, Gregg's capable of some beautiful descriptions, but he just needs to build more around them and put more emphasis on their deeper meanings, because I can definitely see the underlying themes and ideas in Gregg's writing. It's all just a matter of making me and others as readers feel more connected and invested in what it all means. In the future, I'd like to see a lot of Gregg's narrative fleshed out and a lot more structure build around each individual scene. More dialogue, more exploration of the characters' thoughts and feelings, and more raw and fast paced energy into his action scenes. Maybe he should try his hand at first person to see if that helps? If Gregg put in the extra effort to beef up his writing and give it the structure it needs, I could see myself really enjoying New Universe.
Read New Universe #4 at: m2k.omegacen.com/newuniverse/NU04.html