Smash! 2023 Miniseries

[Barrington Boots]

Got this Saturday. I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped - the Tom Foster Janus Stark stuff was great but I didn't find the main story too easy to follow at times, art-wise. That said it's an interesting concept and from what I've read in the Meg about it I'm looking forward to the next issue.

The decision to reprint the Steel Claw story from the dire 1992 Action Special was a baffling and unwelcome surprise - if space filler was needed surely some classic Steel Claw reprint would have been better. It was as cynically 90s as I remembered and sits very much at odds with the cheerful action of the main strip.

[Proudhuff]

I must admit to approaching this with some trepidation, loved the idea but a few of these recently have felt very shoehorned, misjudged and unsure of the point of the whole exercise.

This all worked for me apart from the slightly manga style art that seemed a bit light for the subject and the badly realised hats really got my goat! If this was all rendered in B&W with dark overtones it would be a great find.


 

[Colin YNWA]

Yeah being a fan of Paul Grist I was hoping for more from this. The 1869 Tom Foster sequence provided promising set up. But I have to be honest I just don't get on with Anna Morozova's art and the character's just seemed cranked in. Still early days so we'll see how we go.

[Leigh S]

I like Anna;s art in principle, but man, those identical faces really stuck out for me this time - the panel with the clone police was unintentionally hilarious

[M.I.K.]

Anyone who pre-ordered received issue 2 through the post yet? My copy hasn't been delivered yet and I'm wondering if it's just late.

[Barrington Boots]

My copy came Saturday.
I found the storytelling much better in this issue, and I appreciated the switch from the bright art of the 60s to everything looking much grimmer in the 80s although Jimmy Broxtons Archie looks a bit weedy and shoddily built! Better choice of backup strip too.

[Proudhuff]

Agreed, an improvement however, it felt very much of its time, even if it wasnt!!
Some surprising nonsense from the Archie droid, is his body a TARDIS ffs!

[Barrington Boots]

Third and final episode of this is the best one yet. The art has a cheerful, modern cartoony vibe whilst not being too jarring for an old chap like me. The spider is especially well depicted. The storytelling is good and its an easy, action orientated read.

Overall I think this was a pretty good miniseries. It's basically all about the Spider - almost everyone else is a cameo, but I enjoyed seeing the various characters pop up: I feel this was better than the Valiant series a few years back. I liked concept of the different art styles for the different eras of the strip too.

[Colin YNWA]

Well finished this and I'm just not sure. I need to re-read it. On first pass this isn't the Paul Grist I 'know' it felt busy and fussy and I just didn't really keep up with what it was trying to do. I strongly suspect a re-read will elevate it.