Time for a brand new series from Vertigo, who has been on a roll with great stuff this year. We had Collider (now retitled and rebranded), The Wake, and Trillium. Can Vertigo keep up the fine quality with Hinterkind? Is it good?
Hinterkind #1 (Vertigo Comics)
At some point in the future, something came along and wiped out most of humanity (seems to happen a lot recently in stories). In New York City, one of the last settlements for humans remains standing. One of the leaders notices that they haven’t been getting any contact from their Albany branch or anywhere else in the country, so he decides to head out and find the cause. Meanwhile, his granddaughter has also been interested in checking out what lives beyond the city.
I suppose living in a medieval like village would get boring for anyone after a while.
Okay, what can I say about this comic? Honestly, I have mixed feelings: On one hand we have the main characters established and we have a goal for the characters to accomplish. On the other hand, this is kind of weak. It’s not a very exciting or engaging comic, with it mostly being setup and nothing to really hook you in. For most of the story it feels like your typical post-apocalyptic scenario and only starts to differentiate itself from others with the final 5 or 6 pages, which is also when the comic starts getting interesting.
The rest of the writing by Ian Edginton is okay for the most part. The pacing is good enough and the story moves well enough. There are some intriguing situations between the characters — like when Prosper interacts with her grandfather. However, the dialogue is pretty weird. It comes off like people are speaking in some sort of accent but then it will instantly jump back to people talking without one. When they are using accents, it’s actually hard to read at points. I mean, the scene with the two characters returning to their tribe with a zebra (hey, where did you think all those animals went after the zoo closed up?) is especially frustrating.
I mean, these characters don’t always talk like this either. Make up your mind writer!
The art by Francesco Trifogli is… okay. It’s just okay. Francesco does have an eye for detail and really makes the scenery and the worlds look good overall. However, his characters are kind of questionable: for instance, some people the same expression a majority of the time or perpetually dull looks. Plus, there’s normally nothing very interesting to look at until the very end. This is really not the kind of book to buy for the art.
6.5
- There is potential here.
- The characters are fleshed out well.
- The ending is pretty good.
- The story is pretty boring thus far.
- The dialogue is frustrating to read.
Is It Good?
Hinterkind has potential, I do not doubt it. Now that setup has passed and we got the story going, the comic itself can start going as well. But right now, I’m not sure how much this is worth your time. It has problems and may be best read when the second issue hits. I’ll be back then to see, but for right now, maybe wait on it.
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