by LiQuid » Apr 4th, 2012 @ 4:40pm
Only took me one issue of WatXM to remember how much I absolutely loathe Chris Bachalo. I honestly, no hyperbole, would rather read raw scripts than have to sit through another issue with his art in it. Even if I could forgive the overall style of his art, (which I've done in the past, and if you enjoy it, more power to you), I can not abide his stupendously shitty coloring. I have never, ever seen a more blandly colored comic book than WatXM 8.
In case anybody needs a reminder, over the last couple months with Bradshaw and Ponsor on art this has become one of my if not my sole favorite comic book. All the background detail and all the hilarious little jokes and bits placed into the art made every Bradshaw issue as much a picture hunt as an actual reading experience. I was dreading the return of Bachalo and he more than surpassed expectations for how shitty he could get with this issue. At first it started out with my heart sinking a little more every time I turned the first couple of pages. Then every single new panel became its own new disappointment. By the end of the book, probably the final 1/4 of it or so, I was so burned out from hating the art that I have no fucking clue what even happened and now I'm going to have to go back and read the fuck through it again just to try and understand what the hell happened at the end.
I'm just so damned disappointed right now. This is by far the most emo and bitchy I've ever gotten over a comic book so enjoy it or call me a fanboy or a whiner or whatever else, but somebody please tell me I'm not completely insane for thinking Bachalo is poison on this book.