Convert #2 // Review
When Orin arrived on the planet with the rest of the crew, they were all a bit confused. It took them fifteen years to arrive on the planet in responding to a 30-year-old distress signal. Now Orin is alone...only he isn’t alone in Convert #2. Writer John Arcudi and artist Savannah Finley continue their science fantasy exploration tale with colorist Miguel Co. With more of the story having been uncovered, Arcudi’s tale loses a bit of its fantastic “otherness” in favor of a more standard sort of an “explorer in a strange land” sort of a story.
Orin rests in the company of those who call the planet home. He’s out of place, but at least he’s alive. He had completely run out of energy and everything else. He was fairly certain that he was going to die. But instead of dying, he fell asleep. When he woke up, he found himself in the presence of a woman. Sometime past and he found himself in the presence of other humanoids. It was difficult at first. Couldn't speak their language. However, there's a psychic connection and something more. And there is the danger of storm wolves on the horizon...
Arcudi jumps ahead a bit in the story. Orin was about to die in the first issue. as the second issue picks up the narrative slides around a bit. Aspects of the mystery move across the page in various directions as the story can of some momentum. Earth is contrasted against an aboriginal-style alien culture and is forced to prove himself as he is recovering. sudden appearance of a storm wolves allows him the opportunity to do something. There was a real opportunity for moving the story in a very radically surreal direction. Instead, arc he tells us a story that could very well be something that would have happened on earth at some point. The fantasy dies a little bit in favor of a simple tale of survival.
Finley’s art has a stark brutality about it that serves the overall theme of the series quite well. The alien environment doesn't necessarily look like anything that wouldn't be present on the planet earth. So there's kind of a problem there. Because it doesn't really feel truly foreign. It doesn't really feel truly alien. It's very familiar sensation of being somewhere else just isn't there. It's very earthbound and raw emotionally. And this is kind of a problem for a story. That is essentially set in an era of deep space exploration.
Expectations continue to shift as the series progresses. The truly strange potential of something that would be very breathtakingly weird has been settled. Arcudi and Finley are working on some thing that is much more standardized. There's a tradition of single traveler in a foreign land that has roots in fantasy science fiction that go all the way back to Edgar Rice Burroughs and beyond. It's familiar ground. It's kind of fun to see it done again.
Grade: B
