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Jurassic Park: Redemption #5
Reviewed by Patrick Hayes aka PatBorg
The covers:
The final issue
comes with three final covers. Cover A by Tom Yeates with
colors by Jamie Grant. It's a Valley of Gwangi moment
I couldn't pass up as Backer and the sheriff lasso a dino from
horseback. The dino, setting, and sky are colored too dully. A
brighter sky might have perked up the cover to make it stand out
amongst others on the shelf. Cover B is by William Stout. It
too is good but it does it have to give away an
ending? Cover R(etailer) I(ncentive) is the same as B, minus
the coloring, though the JP and IDW cover logos are
colorized. I like this, too. Overall grades: All three
covers B
The story:
Bob Schreck closes
out this series on incredibly disappointing level. Alan and
Ellie who showed up in the previous issue do nothing but have
their presence in the book. Backer suffers a second "death"
scene that wasn't his death: "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool
me twice, shame on you." A death scene on Page 8, which should
have been the a major payoff scene, come off as sadly comedic
with the terrible dialogue in panel six. Who was eaten at the
bottom of Page 10? Don't know, so why should I, as a reader,
care? The other character who doesn't die on Page 19 has the
worst response at their reappearance in panel five. And wait!
A third character we thought killed on Page 5 is walking around
fine on Page 21, and he, too, ends his appearance with cheesy
dialogue. And Page 5's Star Wars dialogue was so forced. What,
no "It's a trap!"? I thought things were building fine, but
this issue misfires story-wise is so many ways. Overall
grade: D-
The art:
I've been
championing the art of Nate Van Dyke on this series, but his
smiles hurt him in this issue, especially on Tim (Page 19).
Page 7 should have people screaming or dropping their jaws, but
panels one and five show people to be happy during the carnage.
Good use of gore to shock on Page 8, if only the
dialogue...Where did the dino come from on Page 12 that attacks
Backer? I have no reference point, and, hence, I'm really
confused looking at this. Did the guard die on Page 16, since
the readers have seen a lot of blood, but no one dying, I'm
going to assume he got away. Tim also starts smiling during
the horror in the first panel of this page as he strikes a super
hero pose running. And were we always so close to the water? I
don't remember being so. Could be me, or it could be a lack of
a reference point earlier in the series. This was a huge
letdown. Overall grade: C-
The colors:
Jamie Grant gets
high marks. He employs gorgeous backgrounds and mixes up the
color schemes throughout. And, red is used appropriately for
shock and focus (such as coloring in sound effects).
Overall grade: A
The letters:
Shawn Lee has tons
of sound effects and dialogue to deal with. I would have liked
(not just this issue, but now that we're down, throughout the
series) specific fonts assigned to specific dino noises and not
computer stretched for others (see Pages 12 and 13). At least
the Giganotosaurus had distinct footfalls. Overall
grade: B
The final line:
It was painful to
get through this final issue. I really thought things were
improving, but the finale was a bust. If you're a JP
fan, save your money. Overall grade: D+
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