1curtismurray

I have the first 5 issues of this series. Picked them up at a discount on Free Comic Day. I really gotta say, the first 5 issues read exactly like a tv show. The comic is rated exactly as it should be, maybe even a little high. The plot lines are generic and trite (my kidnapped wife is more overused than the evil twin with a mustache). And judging from the layout of issue 2, they clearly have no idea how to do a proper page layout for a comic book. Specifically, the two page splash where Luke meets the other clones. It's supposed to be a two page splash anyway, placed on an even and odd page respectively, but istead they placed it on an odd and even pages instead, a small fuck up, on paper until you realize that in practice the entire splash effect is ruined because half the splash is on one page and yuo have to turn the page for the other half! Complete amateur hour there. But, it's the writer's first book. Not Ryp's fault. His splash was fine in the digital comic. Whatever. I completely understand why this was made into a comic instead of a live action show because repeating the alpha's face a zillion times in frame with CGI would be too expensive for a show that would've just ended up on USA or SyFy. I will say this about the art, Ryp's attention to detail borderlines on OCD. The cover if the first issue is a perfect example of this. His artwork reminds me of an article I read about a man who is autistic and was able to draw the entire New York city skyline from memory after only having a 3 minute look around from a roof. This guy:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1223790/Autistic-artist-draws-18ft-picture-New-York-skyline-memory.html

So my complaint is not in the art quality, the quality is better than alot of comics that people would sacrifice their first born for. TWD for example is a muddy mess compared to this level of detail. In fact, the arguement can be made that Clone is just a pretty mess of a story because TWD, with it's muddy art after issue 5 that is, is the hottest thing to come down the pipe proving that story keeps readers more than art. You have to remember, comics are alot like reading a movie or tv show and people want plot, not CGI. See the second Star Wars trilogy for a perfect example of this. Anyway... My complaints about the art are that the Alpha character's lips and generic facial features make him look not human which is only emphasized by the plot nad this really fights against that "are they or aren't they" existential arguement. But by far and away, my biggest complaint about the art is the extremely iffeminate way he positions all of his male characters. I mean really. The two page splash I mentioned earlier (issue 2 pgs 9-10) is like gay church. Look at it again. Every guy in the shot is standing on one foot, back arched, butt flexing, wearing tight constricting muscle accentuating clothes, and lifting weights. It's supposed to look like an army barraks but no real army barraks looks like that. Instead it looks like a gay bath house. The guys that run my local comic shop are gay and even they said it was over the top and those two have Wonder Woman wallets. They went on to point out page 11 as well. But that page 15 had potential and kinda worked, although the visual contrast between Patrick and Luke was completely unnecessary. How about the brooding shower scene in issue 3? I get it. The senator is supposed to be Cigarette Smoking Man from X-Files. But he ends up looking like PruneFace from Dick Tracy instead. This is where Ryp needs to back off the detail. He overdraws so much he's drawing in the feeling characters get when they're grabbed, punched, shot, stabbed, choked, or whatever. Look at the third page from issue 1 where Foss is jumping the fence. That's not a blood gushing grip, that's supposed to be Foss sensing the grip itself. I get it. He's building the tension through the art, but it doesn't come off like that. When I first read the comic, I thought it was blood and it madeno snese what so ever becasue he wans't bleeding from his ankle in the next frame. Point is...

You tell me that issue 6 feels nothing like the first 5, I'm gonna think it's a much needed improvement.