Klarion #4

I was tempted to Drop this series after #2 and probably would have after #3, but I felt Klarion deserved my last word before that. So here it is: messy. The basic premise is easy enough to grasp—Klarion making a new life for himself while contending with the Necropolitan Club’s schemes—but it all seems so thin and disjointed. Nocenti’s got a lot of moving pieces that don’t quite shuffle into a clear picture, the result of trying to cover too much at once.

The story thus far is composed of the following plotlines: Klarion’s association with the Moody Museum, his love triangle with Zell and Rasp, the Necropolitans’ feud with the Museum, the Necropolitans’ Buddybots scheme, and Agents Gunther and Moody showing up as magical law enforcement. This issue adds a couple more: the falling-out between Piper and Moody (revealed to be Noah’s once-secret daughter) and Beezlebub trying to sway Klarion over to the dark side with the help of future tech dealer Swag. It takes a very steady hand and focused writer to keep the story afloat amidst all these competing points, and Nocenti isn’t exactly known for either.

What she does is flit from point to point as the mood takes her, adding material to patch the gaps. Before you know it, the story has transformed into one about Klarion’s conflict between good and evil, with Zell’s love being the key to bringing him out of the darkness. Ugh. This is something Nocenti might have been able to pull off later in the series’ run, but at this stage seems terribly premature. She hasn’t fleshed out Klarion’s past or personality nearly enough, nor has she invested enough time developing his relationships with Piper and Noah (his supposed “family,” which is a laugh considering they’ve known each other for all of three issues) or even Zell, really.

Anyway, Beezlebub’s timing is idiotic. If he’s so interested in miring Klarion in evil, why wouldn’t he have taken the opportunity to do so when he had Klarion in his car the first time they met? If he wants to take Klarion out of the Moody Museum’s clutches, why would he drop Klarion off in the vicinity of the Museum in the first place?

Finally, for a title that revolves around a character of pure magic, it’s just disappointing to see what little effort Nocenti puts into weaving that magic. Strangely enough, technology seems to be the dominating force in this series; there’s far more explanation about the way the Necropolitans’ Buddybots and Swag’s enhanced version work than about anybody’s magic. This whole issue takes place in what Beezlebub calls Klarkon’s “pocket,” but God knows what that means. You can only presume it’s short for a pocket universe that acts sort of like a person’s soul, one that for some reason allows someone like Swag in it. The message Nocenti’s sending is clear: just go with it; this is her ride and you’re just the passenger. Frankly, I’m ready to jump ship.

Trevor McCarthy’s art partly saved the previous issues, and without him, the issue loses its visual attraction. Fiorentino and Kudranski are by no means bad artists, but even emulating McCarthy’s stylish paneling, their work seems a lot more commonplace. They certainly can’t do much to bring order to the story’s chaos; they can only try to make the chaos a little prettier to look at. I will say that it’s weird to see Kudranski’s art finished with multiple colors of such solid tone; it’s definitely missing the eerie, ethereal quality it’s had in other projects he’s done.

Some Musings:

– I won’t got too deep into it, but sometimes I wish I had a Buddybot to strap a raging alcoholic to a chair.