The penultimate issue of “POP” by Curt Pires and Jason Copland takes a plot heavy direction as things build towards the grand finale. The socially critical themes and tones that have made this series stand out are missing from this issue due, it would seem, to having so much story to tell. Don’t expect to have your mind blown with this one, it looks like Pires is saving the best for last.
WRITTEN BY: Curt Pires
ART BY: Jason Copland
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: October 22, 2014
Review By Eric Switzer
Remember the last season of “LOST” when Jacob finally reveals himself and all the beautiful mystery he was responsible for suddenly sound like utter horse shit coming out of his mouth?
“POP” may very well have set the bar too high with issues one and two. My feeling about this issue is that it tells its story but doesn’t really say anything worth hearing. It tries to: in a scene in which our heroes-on-the-run examine nature of existence and the burden of ephemerality, but it is full of familiar sentiments and does little to provoke the imagination. I realize these are high expectations to have for a single issue of a limited series, but this book has impressed to an almost soul-shaking degree and now, in issue three, I feel slightly abandoned.
A big issue I have with setting aside the social critique how non-compelling the characters are. Elle is essentially a blank slate whose purpose has seemed to be a physical representation of the questions Pires is interested in asking, rather than a fully fledged human character, and Coop is disconnected, depressed, and representative of consumer culture, again not a dynamic human being. Too much time is spent on the would-be killer couple hunting Elle and the enigmatic Cartel, though always fun to look in on, has the thinnest characters imaginable.
Again, I don’t mean to disparage, because this book has meant a lot to me and I’m expecting big things from the finale. I’m just starting to feel as though I can see a hint of the wires, a edge of a stage light, and the corner of a hastily painted backdrop. The magic isn’t lost, but it may have faded.
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Eric Switzer is an aspiring filmmaker and screenplay writer living in Los Angeles. His work tends to focus on the lighter side of entropy, dystopic futures, and man’s innate struggle with his own mortality. He can be found on twitter @epicswitzer or reached via email at ericswitzerfilm@gmail.com.