Felix Vasquez’s Take:
Hell, the New York Times liked this, so I figured once “Cinema Crazed” approved, the creators had it made in the shade with lemonade. Don’t pretend you don’t take our opinions as gospel, you cads. Adam Dechanel, a contributor to one of my haunts: The Superman Homepage, has a comic book series coming out, and a damn good one called “The Gifted”. What we got here is a series that is too adult for children, but not too childish for adults, hence the Parental Advisory sidebar on the cover. Heed the warning, my friends, and don’t come bitching to me later on. So, the series has much potential for a full fledged and ultimately grand series which is now being published under the Clockwork comics logo, and I have to say it’s a fun series.
It’s definitely “Fantastic Four” with all the angst sans the camp, along with a bit of “Superman” and “X-men” thrown in with the alien emotions and whatnot sans the cape and bald dude. “The Gifted” is a fun book and with art that’s often brutally beautiful and with many times interesting characterization that I expect to be fleshed out within the next issues. The cover is great and pretty much tells us what we want to know, and Mr. Dechanel gets the job done with an frequently very complex story about a group of beings now called X8’s whom evolved from time and became walking talking beasts, but after being kicked out of the Garden of Eden by the big man, they fought to survive and created a nation on to its own, however with the evolution of man, they were discovered and most of their race was slaughtered in a hale of gunfire, and explosions (great scene), and very few escaped. Those few were forced to evolve in to humans and masquerade.
To make all the humorless baby cries happy, both theories of man are presented here and rather creatively, I may add. I expected to groan with annoyance, but Dechanel presents a logical theory that I liked. With the Nazi theme often presented, their enemies seek them for mysterious purposes and with even the insignia which is obviously inspired by such forces, they’re up to no goodnicks. The animal team’s actual purpose hasn’t been revealed yet. Which means they’re either just people trying to survive, people whom decide they want to fight crime, or try to survive and help people along the way, I’m just hoping the concept becomes more fleshed out beyond being on the run from a secret organization and really delves not only in to the characters but in to better disconnected situations that keep the series afloat.
The concept of humans turning in to animals isn’t original and is derivative in many respects (Bloody Roar, anyone?), but if it decides to break free from that and explore other regions like mythology, origins, and even one of their own becoming enemies, it could manage to be a fun series for the adults. There’s blood, cracked necks, cursing like a sailor, and full frontal nudity which never becomes too obscene cue conveniently placed dialogue bubbles. The art is rather excellent albeit stiff with tight panels and great narrative. I understood what was going on and I liked much of it. Some panels will induce awes while other induced furrowing of the brows. In the end, I had fun, I liked what I read and I wanted more. And so will you.
Neal Bailey’s Take:
I’ve been writing quite some time now, and there’s one place where my writing is best known, called the Superman Homepage. A key part of why I am what I am there, and why I do what I do, is Adam DeChanel, a founding member of the Superman Homepage who has produced a noteworthy comic in “The Gifted”. Taking science fiction and mixing it with biblical allegory, Adam crafts a world where those from Eden lived on, hiding among us in a modern day world, involving a varied cast, strong characters, and intriguing scenes. The art is slightly rough-hewn, but not in the way that
smacks of amateur, in the way that adds a distinction. The action scenes are well paced, and all in all, I found this to be a very entertaining and enthralling read. Don’t miss this work! Ask your comic shop to carry it. I will be.