review: Supermarket #1-4 (2006)

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Kristian

Rating: 2/10

I noticed that the trade paperback for this series is out, so here's hoping I can save someone the injustice of spending 18 bucks on this garbage.

The story starts out OK, with a good, if not terribly compelling or original, "capitalist future gone awry" premise, and some amusingly quirky characters and situations. Unfortunately, it never gets beyond that point, and it doesn't even attempt to explore the depths of the social issues implied by the premise.

For the first three issues, the story got by as a mildly entertaining cat-and-mouse chase, but much of the interest was in the expectation that the chase was heading somewhere meaningful. And then the final issue arrived. To say that this was a pathetic resolution to everything that happened up to this point is ridiculously generous. It's as if Mr. Wood just gave up, like he didn't know how to say what he wanted to say, or how to make it interesting, so he just ended it in the most expedient, unimaginative way possible. I'd call it predictable, but I don't think Mr. Wood is three years old, and I would have never predicted that a capable, adult writer would resort to such a simplistic, fairy-tale ending.

It's possible that the shallowness of the story is meant to coyly reflect the society portrayed in the story, and that this was Mr. Wood's intent all along. But even if that's not giving him too much credit, which I suspect it is, it still doesn't make it a good idea. The last thing a superficial, materialistic society needs is more superficial material.

Overall, an entirely pointless, unsatisfying, throw-away story, redeemed only slightly by fun, vibrant art and an occasional chuckle.