ISOM #1 - The Hate, The Hype, and The Reality
A review of ISOM #1
ISOM #1, the first from Rippaverse, made some serious waves with its impressive sales numbers and rip-roaring responses from fans and haters alike. And having had a chance to read the book thrugh a couple of times, I’d like to share my thoughts on the hate, the hype, and the book itself.
The Hate
First, outside of the book I’ve been blown away by the incredible hate poured out on the campaign and desperate attempts to declare the book a failure. Attacks ranged from the book being called a political screed by people who never read it, all the way down to critique a binding crease (the “white line”) as some kind of grievous error that would tank the company.
To all that, I have to say that Eric successfully marketed his book, got phenomenal sales numbers (my favorite indies usually do 1/10th the sales or less on a campaign), and the book arrived a few weeks after I ordered. In spite of many more books being sold than expected. The art looked nice, there wasn’t any political messaging, and so the fear that we were looking at another creator who raised a ton of money and didn’t deliver or delivered late… just fell flat.
The Hype
The haters being “proven wrong” led to an equal and opposite amount of hype. The center of that hype being that any suggestion the book might not succeed is “moving the goalposts.” Given the hate this is understandable, but also given that slogan that “We Will Win” against mainstream comics, the only goalpost that matters is whether Rippaverse titles are set to challenge mainstream comics, which means wide appeal.
I bought ISOM because I’m a fan of the band Backwordz, wanted to support Eric’s new venture, and was in a position to risk $35 for a book. But the target demographic for the comics are young men, half my age, which much less than half my means. This first success might be the first step to that happening. It could also be that “the hype” ends up impeding Rippaverse from the biggest goal, in which the title is a successful indie (and merely maintaining these sales would be wild success for most indie creators!) but never breaks out of the current pool of fans.
The Reality
I ordered a copy of the book, I read it through, then I read it through again. And the reality is, there were a few things I didn’t like, and a few I did, and I’m interested to see how the next installment plays out.
What I didn’t like
This image really captures the main issue I had with this book. Both inside the book and in promotions I could feel the creators’ enthusiasm for this book. I could feel the joy of building a big world. But the first story included too many pieces that didn’t really go together as presented, but like the image, were jammed together anyway.
The story opens mentioning Yaira, and her returning (She’s back!), which implies its a story about Yaira, with Yaira being the main driver for Avery, the hero of this series. But instead, she shows up, gets in some fights, beats up Avery, and leaves before explaining what she has to do with any of Avery’s other adventures. And the people she fights, the Alpha Core, likewise show up for a bit and disappear from the story. The result being that Yaira’s story and Avery’s would have nothing to do with each other had it not been for their literally being thrown together. I’m sure more is planned, but until the next issue, I don’t understand why these characters have anything to do with each other.
I felt these extra elements took away from the main story about Avery and his facing Darren, the Club Merq gangster. Hopefully the threads get tied together in ISOM #2, but for now, let us look at the book’s main story.
What I liked
The main story about Avery coming out of an apparent superhero retirement to rescue family from his old rival Darren was a nice concept in and of itself. Its a classic and relatable heroic struggle.
I wished more page space was dedicated to fleshing out these characters, and the struggle of an honest man against a sophisticated villain who seems to have every advantage. I liked Darren’s design, the condescending personality, and wanted to see more of him, his motivations, and how he and Avery are connected to the other characters and figures in this world.
Which leads me to the other element I found interesting in the story…
Something this first issue struggled with was tying the different stories and elements together, and this panel in particular was the unexpected lynch-pin that tied it together for me. I had questions about what makes someone an “except” (the world’s version of a superhero), and how Yaira and the “Norfrica” characters teased at the end play into this world. And this panel seems to give us an answer: certain characters are dealing with aliens, certain characters might *be* aliens, and Avery’s adventures as ISOM are about to blow up into something much bigger than dealing with a gangster.
Final thoughts and speculation
If I could make an alternate version of the story, I’d focus on these two elements in particular. We’d start with the call for Avery to rescue Jasmine, and the story up to the first fight at Club Merq would stay the same. But instead of getting beat by Yaira and then going back to the club, what if he was instead beat up by Alpha Core, the superpowered police? At that point Avery goes for his suit, learns about the alien dealings, and possibly that Jasmine is a link that Darren’s trying to exploit to grow his empire? And given the current ending, maybe his competitors are trying to beat him to the punch?
Avery coming back as ISOM would put everyone from the previous encounter on notice, and perhaps we next learn that Darren has some more in store for Avery, far beyond what we saw in Issue 1. I’m hoping for something like this in a future issue, or a similar surprise.
I think all the elements for a story are here, and I’m hoping future issues tie these elements together into comics I’d be glad to share with my little brother, leading to people outside the various “comics movements” taking an interest. If the storytelling is more focused and the costs become attractive for an 16 to 18 year old reader, I think it can happen.