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Alice Cooper #1

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    Mark Tolch
    Senior Member

  • Alice Cooper #1




    Released By: Dynamite Comics
    Release Date: September 3, 2014

    The Story:

    An Alice Cooper comic book? Why not? The character of Alice seems almost made for the medium, a little too extreme for real life, and a little too mythical for the movie screen. And this definitely isn't Alice's first journey into the realm of the illustrated page, but I've got to be honest, that Last Temptation stuff (the Neil Gaiman comic released in conjunction with Alice's 1994 album of the same name) didn't really do it for me...the born-again Alice always came off as a little too safe and preachy, for lack of a better word...so I was looking forward to something that might be a little more of a return to the horror of the classic Alice.



    On first impression, the new Alice Cooper book sure does look impressive; Eman Casallos' illustration has the qualities that I had envisioned in my head as being the perfect blend of Gaiman and slasher film, and that's a great start. As for the story, well, Joe Harris has given us a whole lot to think about. I would venture to say too much, in fact...the only real problem with this book is that there's a little too much going on, and you might find yourself scratching your head. Or maybe I'm just slow. Who knows, but anyway...

    The book opens at "The Nightmare Place", a desolate clock tower set against a stormy sky and a boiling sea. A large snake slithers across cold stone to discover its "Master" a top hat and tails-clad Alice Cooper, covered in cobwebs. A good start, that quickly cuts to a tour bus travelling just outside of Las Vegas, carrying a devilish-looking manager named Lucius Black and his long-term contractee...also Alice Cooper. It seems that one of the terms of the contract is that Alice has to unleash demons on pop singers to get them to sign with Lucius, all the while remembering how he used to enjoy the same success.



    Cut again to an LP-heavy garage sale, and some greedy bastard has scooped all of the good vinyl, much to the dismay of little Robbie. But lucky for him, there is one record put off to the side, a title by none other than Alice Cooper, which the owner...also Alice Cooper....presents to him, free of charge. Little Robbie seems to have some problems with bullies, but maybe if he plays his new album backwards, a solution will appear....



    I've said it before in reviews, and I'll say it again...if this writing seems disjointed and confusing, it's because of the subject matter. Alice Cooper #1 has a little too much going on to get too involved in it, but it will be interesting to see if Harris can reign it in and tighten up the focus in the next book; he's got his work cut out for him, but it's got potential. As far as first books go, this one is a bit of a mess, though....but, well, we forgive first books a lot around here. The good is that there are some cool story threads to follow, and the artwork is great.

    The Final Word:

    This one didn't really do much for me, but we'll see where they take it in the next book.
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