I May Just Have To Wait For The Pax Romana Trade
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I’ve been hearing a lot about Jonathan Hickman’s new book Pax Romana. People have been telling me that I have to check it out, that if I liked Nightly News, which everyone seemed to think was exactly my type of thing, then I would definitely like Pax Romana.
The problem with that endorsement is that I haven’t read Nightly News, so I have no idea whether or not I’d like it. I’ve heard the basic premise of the book, and it sounds like it’s worth a try, I just haven’t quite gotten around to it yet.
Nonetheless, I decided to pick up Pax Romana and try it out earlier this week. I mean, if everyone is talking about it so much, there has to be something to it, right?
For those who don’t know, the basic idea of the book is, sometime in the future, scientists funded by the Vatican figure out a way to send people and things back in time. After some deliberation, the Pope and the Council of Bishops decide to send a team back in time to “correct” the timeline so that things went better for the Holy Roman Empire.
And really, this first issue is….okay. The writing is good. A bit wordy, but I’m okay with that. The art is gorgeous, if a bit heavy on the double-page spreads. I’d have to go back to look, but I think there are only two, maybe three, single pages, and all of the double page stuff got a bit
overwhelming.
This issue moved a bit slow, it was mainly just set-up and build-up for what I hope will be faster-moving issues. I’ll likely pick up the second issue of this, and may even ride it out for the entire four-issue run, but at this point I’m thinking I may really get more enjoyment out of reading this series in trade.
The underlying premise is excellent, but the execution this far feels merely….adequate, whereas I suspect it will be a very intriguing story when seen as a whole.
Whether or not this could be seen as a problem with the phenomenon of “writing for the trade” or even considered an example of the phenomenon, I’m not sure, but I do think it will likely work much better in trade.
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His stuff gets less tedious as you read more of it and can move more naturally through his style. It’s definitely a commitment, but his wall of information type approach becomes really exciting suddenly once you’re comfortable.