Review: Greek Street #1

Hey all – hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend, at least, those of you who celebrated it!   I know you were simply bereft without the read/RANT updates, but we’re all back for now, and just in time for some of this week’s highly anticipated releases.  Before then, however, there are a few issues left to cover from last week.

For instance… Peter Milligan’s new Vertigo book, Greek Street.  I have to say, I love Vertigo.  While prices continue to rise to unreasonable levels elsewhere, Vertigo has actually instituted a new policy, one that we first saw a couple months back with Carey’s The Unwritten #1 – the opening issue of Greek Street has 30 pages of story, and only costs  $1.  That alone should suggest that you have little reason not to give it a shot.  So, how does it hold up?

Greek Street appears to be a mash-up of mythology transplanted into modern times as supernatural crime fiction.  The idea is hardly original, but as has been said, it’s not the idea that matters, but the execution.  Milligan’s first issue, despite being extra-large, actually accomplishes very little in and of itself.  That said, it has a great deal of potential – though the first issue is almost entirely set-up, it tosses multiple possible storylines in the air, mixing mythological elements from a variety of stories together with glee and in such a manner to suggest that this book could grow in any number of directions.

Gianfelice does a great job with art, as he generally does.  His art is dark and expressive, suiting Milligan’s story quite well.  It doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from the most common look of recent Vertigo books… but they generally look quite good, so unless you tend to be dissatisfied with the way the art is trending for Vertigo, you’ll find Gianfelice quite adept at illustrating a variety of rather disturbing scenes for the book.

As a single issue, Greek Street #1 failed to wow me.  That said, there’s a lot it does right that suggests a bright future in trade sales.  Rather than simply retelling myths we all know, Milligan & Gianfelice seem content to take the tone and idea, the heart of the story, which makes it feel more dynamic.  Greek Street #1 is a dark book that nonetheless remains a relatively enjoyable read.  Far from the best Vertigo has to offer, it remains a competent horror comic with a well-done mythological slant.

Grade: B-

- Cal Cleary

Read/RANT