Stronghold Volume 1
“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
I love that quotation. I’ve always felt it summed up the strongest theme of the The Lord of The Rings. None of us really ever want to have to face horrible circumstances, horrible times. And yet how we respond in those times defines us.
Samwise Gamgee only wanted to garden. But he took on a giant “evil thing in spider form”, kicked its ass and then carried his master and best friend up an enormous volcano.
John McClane just wanted to visit his separated wife. He ended up fighting a battle against expert, terrorist thieves. Dude even walked barefoot on broken glass to get away.
Peter Parker? Do we even need to go there?
How characters grow and respond to their times continues to be one of the most important drivers of stories. The Walking Dead has more to do with how people react to the times and each other than it does with zombies (done even more masterfully in the book World War Z).
Now we’ve had more than our fair share of alien invasion stories in every form, some common, some very original (see: The War in the Woods).
But what if they won? And what if, now that we’re subjugated, we don’t find life under their thumb so bad?
Stronghold
That’s where Stronghold begins. Twenty years ago the Ouranians conquered Earth. It took them all of two months. We start the book in a futuristic New York City, a place where various races, human and alien, coexist in peace and prosperity.
It’s doesn’t stay peaceful for long.
Not everyone remains content under the Ouranian yoke. But then we wouldn’t have a comic book if they did, would we?
Stronghold tells the story of, as writer Brian Visaggio put it, the human uprising and fight against the Ouranians. We watch a group of humans, Julia Jeffries, Ezra Mueller, Greg Vargas and Ruth Kershen as they go from basement terrorists to superpowered freedom fighters. We see Marcus Jeffries, loyal soldier and Julia’s husband, get involved in situations that push and crumble the foundations he believed held his life together.
Visaggio and artist Kevin Roberts have had their own saga. Stronghold has been a seven year evolution going from print to digital and in between seeing a complete re-write.
Volume 1 of the relaunched series, issues #1-#3, is on sale for 99¢ at Comixology. A great cmx499 deal.
And, if you don’t want to read this review any further, yes you should absolutely buy it. The book is more than work the buck you drop on it. It’s always good. Often really good. I’m definitely going to get #4 when it comes out too.
Super Sentai (But Done Really Well)
I’m not a big fan of super sentai. I’m sure age has something to do with it. I do remember enjoying G-force as a kid. But I was older when the Power Rangers came out and exploded. I hated them. There you had silly costumed heroes fighting silly monsters and silly villains.
That’s not the case at all here. Character, story and art drive Stronghold. It’s not the suits but the characters wearing them, and the ones that don’t, that completely hold the focus of the story. Visaggio’s done a great job in giving a lot of the characters their moments of depth (so hard with so many and in just three issues. Or two hours in the case of Hawkeye in the Avengers movie).
He’s planted some interesting moments in each that I really hope get fleshed out in later issues. I hope to see more of Ruth struggling with some of her actions. I hope to continue to see Ezra question the gift of power they’ve been given and show why he became a leader in the first place. I’m especially looking forward to the continued evolution of Marcus Jeffries.
Enjoyable Evolution
I think Visaggio and Roberts did the right thing here releasing all three first issues together in one volume. Not only for price, though we can’t argue with that. I felt as I read it an evolution in the quality of the work.
Issue #1 is never bad and there are definitely some good moments. But Visaggio’s narration covers every panel save a few. And while I enjoyed the craftsmanship of the narration itself, so much of it weighed down certain moments and took away from their impact. In issues #2 and #3 he pulls back on the narration and lets Roberts’ art have its chance to carry a moment. The same growth holds true for the dialog, where some of it in issue #1 seemed forced to reveal information we needed. That completely disappears in the next two issues as well.
You can see an evolution in Roberts’ work as well, though maybe it’s a bit more subtle. The actual suits and action scenes are wonderfully drawn for me, I got the feeling of movement and combat and even chaos at times while never getting lost in the action. (Note: After I wrote this I got the chance to talk to Brian and Kevin. Kevin explains the why and inspiration of his great action art.)
And I love his covers, especially issue #1’s.
For the most part I’m fine with the stylized drawing he does with his characters. There are moments though, especially when he has a character talking and showing emotion in profile that the stylization jumps out too much for me. Comics, like movies, have the power of transporting you. You don’t want to realize that you’re holding a book (or a tablet) or see the people sitting next to you. And those moments take that away from me. For example, at the beginning of issue #2, his artwork tells the story of Ruth’s circumstances beautifully. We have subtlety, depth and detail. And then there’s a panel of her in profile speaking and I realize I’m holding a tablet.
That’s of course a personal reaction. And don’t get me wrong here, I got back into the story very quickly after those few moments.
I absolutely enjoyed watching the series evolve. Evolution of a series should always happen. Having room for growth allows for much more interesting following issues. How many comic book series, or series of novels for that matter, find themselves in a corner having to take crazy twists and turns, often turning off some readers, just to keep it interesting? Growth itself is incredibly interesting.
That’s one of the big reasons I am looking forward to #4, coming out soon, and subsequent issues. We have the opportunity to see character growth and creator growth. Just as importantly we get to explore some of the questions Visaggio and Roberts have left us with. What were the T’Aya really? Are we getting the truth or is there something being hidden from our heroes? What’s going on outside of New York City? Can one team, even a super powerful team, be enough to free humanity?
Do our heroes, like Sam Gamgee, John McClane and Peter Parker, have what it takes to rise to the occasion with the times they’ve been given?
