Advance Review — ‘Exquisite Corpses’ #6 Is Feeling The Weight Of Its Many Characters
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
This issue’s story is fine, but the limited series’ format is getting weighed down by the number of characters. A dozen killers plus their would-be prey in an unsuspecting Maine town is probably too much for a 13-part series. And it’s asking a lot for readers to come back each month and expect to remember who is who.
Overall
8/10Having a number of interesting characters is critical to the success of most stories. After all, no one wants to read a tale where everyone acts the same — or even worse, just like us.
But the opposite can be equally true. Having too many characters and too few pages to display them on can also be a recipe for confusion and shallowness. Nearly halfway into the limited run of Exquisite Corpses, and the glut of the many characters on parade is weighing down the series. Making matters worse is the episodic nature of the series. It can often take several pages just to remember who is who. (A handy March Madness-like bracket in the back helps, but also proves this point.)
That’s not to condemn the story about a dozen killers hired by the elite to determine control of the United States. Quite the opposite. The concept is fascinating and, most of the time, the execution is strong. But trying to remember which psychopath is which in the small Maine town they are terrorizing is straining.
It typically leads the creative team to focus on one killer, who either dies or off another lunatic by the end of the issue. It makes the story less fun because of its predictability.
In this issue, writers Tyler Boss and James Tynion IV focus on G4m3r_K1d (if the name is annoying to read, don’t worry, because it never appears in the story itself – adding to the confusion) and his killer drone. It’s Halloween night, and the kid tags along with another trick-or-treater with predicably disastrous results. The end result looks like a modern battlefield, thanks to the drone attack.
Artists Gavin Fullerton and Michael Walsh keep things moving here. Interestingly enough, the one thing that helps this format is the guest artist for each issue. Walsh is constant and collaborates with a different penciler each chapter. The results aren’t wildly different issue to issue, but it makes sense given the arrangement.
With the number of killers whittling down nearly every issue, the creative team will hopefully be able to sharpen their focus and work on more long-term character development. Then again, we’ve only been given a glance at some of the murderers, so the team has its work cut out for it. And so do readers.
Exquisite Corpses #6 will be available in comic book stores and digital platforms Wednesday from Image Comics.