Today’s Comic> Ben 10 Alien Force: Doom Dimension

Reminds me of that time my face swelled up.

Ben 10 Alien Force: Doom Dimension Volume 1

Del Rey Manga (no date given)

WRITER: Peter David

ARTIST: Dan Hipp

First a rather obvious point. This isn’t a manga. It’s more “digest” style than it is manga style and as you can tell from the cover it’s not even done in any style I’ve ever seen come out of Japan. By the way, “manga” is just comics from Japan, or something that imitates the style/layout used in Japan. This really does neither.

Ben, Gwen, and Kevin are tracking a crashing spaceship, and come across the alien tech-stealing Forever Knights. When Ben is caught in the ship’s explosion, he and the pilot are actually shunted into the fourth dimension, mere seconds displaced in time. Not knowing this, Gwen and Kevin assume he’s dead, with an angry Gwen ready finish the Forever Knights–permanently!

What they got right: A few continuity hiccups aside (which I suspect is partly for Peter David to tell the story he wants), it seems the writer has really done his homework on the characters. When it comes to the aliens and the visual style of the “fourth dimension”, I really like what the artist did.

What they got wrong: I can’t say the same for his people, though. If the cover art of Ben doesn’t give you nightmares, the inside art will help. I can’t figure out why he draws Ben’s aliens close enough to the show characters (in his art style, not the shows–which oddly doesn’t bother me that much here) while his humans and the guest alien resemble the prototype for the Gorillaz art style. It doesn’t work here. (Not that I’m a fan of it “there”, but for Ben 10 it kind of rattles the nerves.) Also, there are some issues, like Gwen assuming her ancestral alien shape (she only did that once, and isn’t able to do that again) and having a kissing scene with Kevin that, while comes off properly in the story, really should have been saved for the show, as I don’t think they’ve had their first kiss on screen yet. My memory could be off on that one.

Recommendation: If you can get past the freakish looking humans, the story itself is very good, and everything else about Hipp’s art is inspired, from positioning to effects. You should at least give it a look.

Up Next: Best Scene of the Week in Sunday’s “Weekly Wrap-Up”.