http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... ew&id=2959
Let Me In: Crossroads #1This Dark Horse title is a tie-in comic that is helping to world build for the up-coming movie “Let Me In,” which in turn is based on the fantastic novel “Let The Right One In.” It is a tale set in 1982 in middle America. It is going to expand the character of the lead vampire girl and her human man-servant as they quest to find her blood. They’re calling this an essential piece of the entire experience but I have to disagree, so far. This comic isn’t bad but it doesn’t offer much that is good. I can’t help but think it’ll read better in trade as they focus on the audience more likely to buy it collected than monthly.
The original book is a phenomenal piece of writing and something that should be read, whether you do or don’t like the comic or the movie. The prose carries you along through the minds of the characters and it’s absolutely mesmerizing. This comic, however, does not employ any narrative captions and that is a truly missed opportunity. You don’t expect the comic writer to ape the style of the original author but placing the tone in the same world would have gone a long way to bridging this to the success of the source material.
As a prelude, I want to learn more about the main characters in focus. Instead, we are offered a good idea of the town they resided in 30 years ago and a deep study of the real estate agent trying to buy their land. I completely get him as a character but I’d much rather understand the people I actually read this comic to learn about. It feels like a massive tangent and while it sets up the story it doesn’t give me what I want. The setting should be simple; The main reactions are what I want.
Reynolds is in a tough spot because he’s adapting visuals from a movie. However, he has plenty of space to move because this tale is set earlier (though the vampiric lead would not have changed) and the movie hasn’t come out yet so the faces of the actors aren’t burnt onto our retinas just yet. Reynolds manages to make his characters not look photo referenced and so they are more free to act. He scratches the landscape well and Stewart’s colors certainly help to make this prelude feel like an older tale.
As a first issue, it would have been nice to get dropped into the tale in media res. Show us exactly what sort of death dealers we are reading about. Instead, this issue spins its wheels setting up external factors effectively but not in the direction that we want from this title. We don’t get into the minds of the characters, we don’t get a sense of anything too new here, and it’s a shame because these characters are interesting. Instead, this just feels like a pretty generic vampire tale, thinly written, and focused in the wrong direction. It does what it does well, but it’s not doing much that matches what the comic should.
http://panelsonpages.com/?p=30923
Let Me In: Crossroads #1 Review Dark Horse explores Abby's life as a vampire before the movie. by Jesse SchedeenAlso out from Dark Horse this week is the first issue of a four-part prequel to the recent vampire flick Let Me In. This miniseries follows eternally-preteen vampire Abby and her guardian Thomas as they hide out in a small town in Indiana trying to score blood and prevent Abby from being discovered. Writer Marc Andreyko also spends a lot of time following around a young developer who is trying to buy up farmland in the town, which includes the land that Thomas and Abby live on. This will no doubt lead to an unfortunate end for this character, as the final pages of this issue effectively foreshadow.
I have yet to see Let Me In, but the original Swedish film Let The Right One In was one of my favorite horror movies to come out in a while, and I was able to understand everything in this book based on my knowledge of that movie. Andreyko’s script is aided greatly by Patric Reynolds’ dark, gritty artwork that helps to slowly set the dreadful tone that permeated the original film. One aspect of the book that I don’t think works, however, is the fact that it gives Abby another boy to try to reach out to. On one level, this establishes that she is lonely and is looking for someone to connect to on a human level, but on another level, it could lessen the impact of Let Me In by showing that the boy in that film wasn’t the first person she tried to reach out to. Regardless, this was an enjoyable read and should be quite interesting for fans of either the original film or the remake. Let Me In: Crossroads #1 gets 4 out of 5 Chatty Hitchhikers.
http://comics.ign.com/articles/113/1139342p1.html
Few fans of Let the Right One In would have argued the film was begging for an Americanized remake, but Let Me In managed to improve upon the original in several ways and provide an enjoyable vampire experience in a very crowded marketplace. In Let Me In: Crossroads, writer Marc Andreyko explores the lives of the eternally youthful vampire Abby and her caretaker.
There are no doubt plenty of stories worth telling in the decades prior to the film's events. Unfortunately, Andreyko didn't necessarily pick the most interesting to explore. Crossroads takes place only a few years before the movie. The general day-to-day beats of Abby and her caretaker's lives aren't that different. There are similar scenes of the caretaker traveling the town, picking up hapless victims and letting Abby run wild. There's even a new boy character living next door to take the place of the film's Owen. More preferable would have been a story that explored the original meeting between Abby and her now aging guardian.
Similarities aside, the issue is well presented. The barren, snow-swept setting of the film is swapped for a different sort of rural, Midwestern desolation. A conflict involving a pushy real estate developer could serve to differentiate Crossroads from its sequel more, but at the moment the villain of the piece is a bit too two-dimensional. Andreyko and artist Patric Reynolds are able to channel the creepy tone of the film, though the comic never packs any particularly scary moments. Hearing Abby feeding from behind a wall is not the same as seeing her pounce on her prey in live-action. Still, Reynolds, art is very dark and moody, and also much more detailed than one might expect from a licensed comic. What Let Me In: Crossroads lacks in originality it makes up for in presentation.
IGN Ratings for Let Me In: Crossroads #1
Rating
6.5 out of 10
OVERALL
Passable
and, finally, i'm hoping to launch a few creator-owned projects in 2011.
Not bad for a starting issue.