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I'm
giving "Pogrom" a surefire chance to wow me, or at
least keep my attention, and so far it's almost
getting there. The writing is tediously paced, the
narrative is self-indulgent, the narration is
painfully on-the-nose, and the hero Pogrom just
seems like a take on Spawn. The second issue relies
much more on Pogrom learning about himself than
setting down on his mission to destroy the
clandestine government that is inadvertently giving
aide to the seven sins prepared to take over the
world. Tomao is so dead set on exploring his
character that he leaves little room for
progression, and in thirty-four pages, there are
only hints of what the possible plot holds for us
while the rest is just more of Pogrom talking to
himself and learning what he's capable of. I haven't
seen this much introspection in a comic in years,
and an origin has never taken this long to resolve
itself before.
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Not even
Superman took this long to figure out his powers
and that he was an alien. Pogrom relishes on his
abilities, Pogrom thinks back to a time where
his past body ravaged a little girl, and Pogrom
uses the walking dead to his liking to bring
down a base in a closed off area of the world.
Little else happens beyond the typical symbolism
of government corruoption, conspiracies left
unsolved, and the possibility that this flesh
eating plague that ravaged the world is either
the machination of the seven sins or the
government seeking control. Or both. Tomao
leaves a lot of room to speculate, but at the
cost of leaving the narrative to feel utterly
sluggish. Nothing happens here. Nothing of true
relevance or distinction, and while I'm not
always someone to influence fast paced stories,
it's exhausting when Tomao can do nothing in the
general area of thirty four pages in the second
issue. Pogrom is so far one of the most
uninteresting characters of the book with a
self-aware attitude that leaves him with a
notion of superiority in spite of still being
obliviious to the extent of his god-like powers,
while the menaces that take the form of the
seven sins are also one-dimensional villains
with very little method to their madness, and
minimal extrapolation on their purpose. What are
they there for, again? To stop Pogrom? To...
kill? It's a shame to see such interesting
character designs be wasted on little forward
motion. Josh Medors art is rather grim and
wonderfully gothic, which helps "Pogrom" remain
an easy read, but at this rate, I see nothing
truly defining happening to anyone. I want
depth, I want some sense of direction, and damn
it, I want something to keep me reading through
the mini-series!
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