Juan Jose Ryp

What a damn waste of my time. I wasn't expecting Shakespeare-level writing, but some sort of a plot would have been nice. Or, you know...characterization.

Instead, we get busy, if well-drawn set pieces where supporting characters show up to inform (such as the Philosopher), or to titillate (such as the two female demons at the start), only to see them dispatched within pages of their introduction.

We get the most indecisive emo Lucifer ever committed to fiction, who really does nothing aside show more from leading Nancy on. We get some action pieces that really do nothing to advance the plot, but do serve to show Nancy's tits and crotch to excess.

The second half of the book takes a nose-dive art-wise. And the story becomes more muddled, until we're hit with the pseudo-Twilight Zone finish.

Meh. show less

What if the College of Vestals, the priestesses of Vesta who were keepers of the sacred flame in Ancient Rome, was more powerful than commonly thought. What if part of their ongoing mission to keep Rome safe was to also guard against arcane and eldritch threats to the Empire? What if they used their behind-the-scenes influence with the Emperor Nero to recruit former centurion and current 'Detectioner' Antonius Axia and send him to the distant province of Britannia to investigate the show more possibility of such a rising unnatural threat? Its an intriguing premise and while this short 4-issue story arc perhaps promises more than it delivers, I still enjoyed veteran author Peter Milligan's alternate take on Imperial Rome. Its a somewhat unusual title for Valiant comics to publish, given that they are better known for their shared-universe superhero comics and perhaps something one might have expected to see published by Image or Vertigo back in their glory days. But if Valiant have decided to take a chance on an unusual and imaginative title out of left field then I'm not complaining. I'll be looking forward to reading the next trade. show less

It could have been called "Super-Powered Vigilante Blood Bath" but that probably would have taken away from the message, which I think was, "the government is evil, but you can't just kill it". As much as I enjoyed seeing a dead and bloody George W. Bush in the wrap around cover of the first issue, I'm afraid I have to agree with this message. I just have to ask: why couldn't they have come up with some even more painful and horrific image of a dead Cheney?

This was fun and cool and as I show more mentioned bloody as all hell. So if you like gritty, violent comics with some story behind them, this is for you. This isn't guys in tights playing nice, it's characters dying and having their bodies used as shields, limbs being severed, people being set on fire kinda stuff. show less

As a huge fan of Alan Moore I'd say this is for completist only. It could easily be read in 15 minutes, but that would mean you would miss the amazing artwork. Juan José Ryp has a way of beautifully portraying the ugliness, dirtiness, grossness of the world, that I haven't seen in any other artist. He's like an elegant Crumb. Each page is to be studied and "absorbed". This isn't like other Alan Moore books where there are hidden messages hidden in the background everywhere, though there are show more a few, it's just raw.

As far as the writing, about 80% of it made no sense to me, but some of it was beautiful. show less