Weavers #3 Review

During its first two issues, Weavers showed mountains of potential. Unfortunately, the execution wasn’t quite there. This week, the action-packed third installment looks to make me eat my words.

Is it good?

Weavers #3 (BOOM! Studios)

Observations

• Seriously? Again with the weird whisper-talk-whisper lettering?
• Gotta admit, Mr. Silence is one sadistic/terrifying character.

This is also how the book’s lettering makes me feel.
• How do they not know this kid is hiding something?
• I’m not sure what’s scarier: The main character’s awesomely drawn nightmare sequence or the incredibly stupid decision he made before leaving his apartment.
• At least we’re getting a cool action sequence out of all this.
• Kid makes a dumb decision. Severe consequences follow. Imagine that.

Is It Good?

I really want to like this book. There’s so much about it that’s good, particularly with regard to Dylan Burnett’s artwork. But it’s not like writer Simon Spurrier is an albatross or something. Quite the contrary. His ideas and overall framework for the series are wonderful. Unfortunately, the execution continues to come up short.

The lettering/whisper-speak-whisper dialogue issue is frustrating, but I would be willing to ignore it if the characters weren’t walking mob clichés. Any sort of organized crime story is going to have its share of common tropes, but this one packs them into the narrative in such a transparent/unimaginative way that it distracts from the otherwise fascinating mythology.

And on top of all of that, the head boss and the main character both make decisions so moronic that the mystical spider aspect of the story feels more plausible. It’s a shame, because otherwise, Spurrier can write some darn good dialogue. But it’s hard to take the characters’ interactions seriously when they all seem to be playing one massive game of Idiot Ball.

I’m afraid it’s time for me to tap out on this series. While this would normally indicate that I’m not a fan of the creative team, I’d actually love to see what they end up doing next. There’s a ton of talent here, but Weavers has proven not to be the best vehicle for it.