By: Alan Moore and Malcolm McLaren (story), Alan Moore (script), Antony Johnston (sequential adaptation), Facundo Percio (art) and Hernan Cabrera (colors)
The Story: A young lady (?) gets a choice modeling gig.
Review: This is a tough issue to review because it says “Alan Moore” on the cover. Even though it is not a traditional Alan Moore comic (for reasons I described in the review of issue #1), it still has that golden halo of quality about it that makes me view the comic in a “glass half full” sort of way. What I can’t tell you is whether I’d still view the comic in that way if it didn’t say “Moore” on the cover because, well, let’s just say that you can’t “unring the bell”.
However, whether it is the “Moore” name on the cover or other things, this issue has the strong waft of quality. Even though the this issue doesn’t set my socks on fire or make me want to be buried with it, it just feels like the creators really tried HARD on this issue. Each panel has the feeling that people really considered what it should look like. The closest analogy I can think of is the difference between a coworker asking your opinion on something and when you’re asked to give a presentation on the same topic for your boss’ boss. When it’s your coworker, you just kinda regurgitate up whatever concept first occurs to you. When it’s your boss’ boss, you make sure you have your shit together, proofread your work, anticipate questions, look for flaws in your arguments, proofread again, change things that don’t work, etc.
Fashion Beast has that meticulous feel and that is appropriate. Given that this is an old Alan Moore screenplay that is being adapted to comics and given that Moore can be a prickly old bastard when he feels his name and old work is being used inappropriately, it follows that Antony Johnston and Facundo Percio really slaved over the work. The last thing they want is Moore saying in an interview, “You know, I wrote Fashion Beast ~30 years ago and it wasn’t my best work because it didn’t get made into a film. Why they want to adapt something with my name on it instead of creating their own new material is beyond me…” Heck, when I think of it that way it almost makes me wonder if Moore was involved in the adaptation behind the scenes.
So, the upshot is that this is a comic where it is impossible not to respect the craft even if the comic itself doesn’t hit all the right notes for you.
As for the comic itself, what struck me most were the silent or semi-silent sequences. Artist Percio really deserves a TON of credit for how well these sequences come off. You can kinda tell these were intended as movie scenes, but Percio makes them work nicely as a sequence of panels. Through it all, the choices of which moments to illustrate and the body language and facial expressions of the characters really carry the day. It’s also amazing how well Percio draws our central character who (remember) is a man dressed as a woman. What’s interesting about the way Percio draws him/her is how in some scenes it really doesn’t matter if you can tell he/she is a man, but there are about 4-5 panels in this issue where it is a vital element of the story that this is a MAN IN A DRESS and Percio nails every one of these scenes. It’s really something.
The one thing I still don’t quite get are the connections between Beauty and the Beast. Perhaps it becomes more clear as the story progresses? One thing I did note was that it clearly isn’t a parallel to Phantom of the Opera. The first issue gave me much more of a Phantom vibe, but in the beginning of this issue, there’s some large graffiti on a wall that says, “Fuck Opera!”. You really can’t miss it and that’s exactly the type of thing a Moore comic will do when he thinks you might have the wrong idea about the story and need to be nudged in the direction.
Conclusion: Not the most awesome comic ever (yet), but the craft that went into this issue is unmistakable. Percio’s art is pretty incredible too.
Grade: A-
– Dean Stell
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