The Energon Pub

And thanks again to IDW Publishing, we continue on our road towards New York with The X-Files: Conspiracy - it's not giant transforming robots in disguise yet, but we meet the Ghostbusters in the full preview below!

The X-Files: Conspiracy: Ghostbusters—SPOTLIGHT

Erik Burnham (w) • Salvador Navarro (a) • Miran Kim (c)

The Conspiracy continues! The Lone Gunmen investigate their first lead, the Ghostbusters. Are they frauds and charlatans, bilking unwitting clients out of money? Or do they have special insight into the afterlife? And how are they connected to the plague that’s poised to wipe out humanity?

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:

• X-Files meets the Ghostbusters! Written by Erik Burnham, writer for IDW’s smash-hit Ghostbusters ongoing series!
• Ask your retailer about the Joe Corroney “tabloid” variant covers for each issue of the event!

Oh god the artwork is crap. You can tell that it's just stock photography photoshopped together, traced over and then inconsistently coloured.
It's so bad it took me out of the story and I stopped reading on page 2 to just look at the art marveling at the fact that people like this are still being hired to work on professional comics. Say what you like about Ramondellie's TF comic art work, but at least it's actual artwork by someone who actually draws, unlike this fraud.

So its ghotbuters one movie all over again mixed with xfiles trying to convinve xfiles people that there real deal let slime out at least art doesnt match it does on cover or art style on idw gijoe cobra issue 12 those two art styles put me off not want to buy comics with human characters involved one are looks mad / crack magazine art and gijoe cobra art something you find in newspaper comic section of denis menace , peanuts, few others

Yeah, normally I don't like to comment on artwork in comics, beauty's in the eye of the beholder and all that, but the more I look at it the more it bothers me. The faces look as if someone drew a blank head shape and literally copy and pasted eyes, mouths, and noses on them. Ultimately it gives the effect of looking almost like caricature combine with a newspaper collage. Not to mention the fact that everything lacks expression. Especially Slimer, a pretty emotionally expressive character in his own right, who between the two panels seems, once again, copy and pasted with the only difference being the tongue sticking out.

ricemazter wrote:Yeah, normally I don't like to comment on artwork in comics, beauty's in the eye of the beholder and all that, but the more I look at it the more it bothers me. The faces look as if someone drew a blank head shape and literally copy and pasted eyes, mouths, and noses on them. Ultimately it gives the effect of looking almost like caricature combine with a newspaper collage. Not to mention the fact that everything lacks expression. Especially Slimer, a pretty emotionally expressive character in his own right, who between the two panels seems, once again, copy and pasted with the only difference being the tongue sticking out.

He doesn't just look copy and pasted he is copy and pasted. It's the same "drawing", just flipped to face the other way with an added tongue.
Super lazy.

ricemazter wrote:Yeah, normally I don't like to comment on artwork in comics.

How do you manage to do that? Surely one can comment in terms of technique, style, colours, poses, dynamism, expression without getting into judging the aestethic value of it.

That said, I'm really confused about this issue's art. You can't see it in the preview, but it looks as though there are two very very different styles going on, one for the Lone Gunmen and one for everything else. And the latter works. Very weird.

Va'al wrote:

ricemazter wrote:Yeah, normally I don't like to comment on artwork in comics.

How do you manage to do that? Surely one can comment in terms of technique, style, colours, poses, dynamism, expression without getting into judging the aestethic value of it.

That said, I'm really confused about this issue's art. You can't see it in the preview, but it looks as though there are two very very different styles going on, one for the Lone Gunmen and one for everything else. And the latter works. Very weird.

Maybe it's done on purpose to tell us the Lone Gunmen are an anomaly or alien to this world, or to reflect their opinion that the GBs are frauds. So to symbolize their ignorance on the GB and their believe that they're frauds, the art is purposely done to look like it' been done by a fraud?

Checked the artist out on google, the few images that appear to actually be done by him don't look too bad actually. So why did idw choose to advertise the comic with these crappy pages?.

They only show first pages, that's how the previews work. But yeah, not the best incentive in this case. Shame though, as the issue is kinda fun.

Va'al wrote:They only show first pages, that's how the previews work. But yeah, not the best incentive in this case. Shame though, as the issue is kinda fun.

Not always, for The Ongoing they showed the final 5 pages with Ironhide's death.
And that reminds me of how terrible the Ongoing by Costa was.

Va'al wrote:

ricemazter wrote:Yeah, normally I don't like to comment on artwork in comics.

How do you manage to do that? Surely one can comment in terms of technique, style, colours, poses, dynamism, expression without getting into judging the aestethic value of it.

That said, I'm really confused about this issue's art. You can't see it in the preview, but it looks as though there are two very very different styles going on, one for the Lone Gunmen and one for everything else. And the latter works. Very weird.

I primarily meant that I don't like to negatively comment on art. I'm all for observation of style characteristics, but I have a hard time levying criticism since I doubt I could do any better.

However, now that you mention, it really does look like there's two different styles going on at the same time here. If you look at Janine, though she is clearly the victim of copy paste, the variation of light on her face is much more subtle while her eyes are far more reminiscent of standard comic style. Her features are also more, for lack of a better word, comically arranged rather than the odd slapping of realistic features onto a comic template that's going on with the lone gunmen there. Even though I've only seen the preview, I agree that it's definitely strange.

There will be a review later this week!

"On the road again..."

Last week IDW kicked off it's new company-wide crossover centred around The X-Files, more so The Lone Gunmen as they work to unravel a new conspiracy that would make WWE's R-Truth's head spin.



In this weeks adventure, TLG have set off to find out just who are the Mythbu...err ... Ghostbusters!

Compared to last week, this book is a bit of disappointment. TLG show up posing as reporters (which they are), poke around, stuff happens, stuff gets sorted and a new clue as to how TLG are receiving reports from the future via CERN is revealed.

In other words, nothing much really happens. Sorry IDW, just being honest here.

The artwork has ruffled a few feathers as it's done in more of The X-Files style, which is a huge difference compared to what on-going IDW Ghostbuster fans may be use to. Less cartoony, more realistic.

Combine that with a nearly pointless story, you really have to ask if this book is worth picking up, or as a fan of Transformers, should you just pass this company wide crossover by and stick to the on-goings.

Pop back for our next review as The Lone Gunmen go in search of a group of Italian Renaissance Ninja Painters.

Burn that has got to be the most hilarious review ever. I wish tis was the one that got posted.

Dead Metal wrote:Burn that has got to be the most hilarious review ever. I wish tis was the one that got posted.

It might be yet. Va'als call.

Staff member Burn, a fan of the X-Files Season 10 comics series, has once again been kind enough to drop in to help out with reviewing the second chapter in IDW Publishing's The X-Files Conspiracy franchises crossover. Check out his review below!

Burn wrote:

"On the road again..."

Last week IDW kicked off it's new company-wide crossover centred around The X-Files, more so The Lone Gunmen as they work to unravel a new conspiracy that would make WWE's R-Truth's head spin.

In this weeks adventure, TLG have set off to find out just who are the Mythbu...err ... Ghostbusters!

Compared to last week, this book is a bit of disappointment. TLG show up posing as reporters (which they are), poke around, stuff happens, stuff gets sorted and a new clue as to how TLG are receiving reports from the future via CERN is revealed.

In other words, nothing much really happens. Sorry IDW, just being honest here.

The artwork has ruffled a few feathers as it's done in more of The X-Files style, which is a huge difference compared to what on-going IDW Ghostbuster fans may be use to. Less cartoony, more realistic.

Combine that with a nearly pointless story, you really have to ask if this book is worth picking up, or as a fan of Transformers, should you just pass this company wide crossover by and stick to the on-goings.

Pop back for our next review as The Lone Gunmen go in search of a group of Italian Renaissance Ninja Painters.

That is amazing, thanks Va'al!

Hey, I am too busy to rewrite it, and my previous draft got eaten by cyberbugs.