Comic Book Review: Onyx

                                                                   The image above belongs to its respective owner, not me
Hello Enthusiasts,

Today's review is of IDW's "Onyx", the story of an alien warrior out to either save the Earth, or destroy it. This isn't a long running series, there's only one volume and it doesn't look like any other issues are being released.

Story wise, this book isn't really too spectacular. An alien race that spreads like an infection goes from planet to planet, decimating the worlds. The hero, Onyx, is trying to stop this from spreading from world to world, but is always too late. At that point, Onyx instead has to kill the infected to keep it from spreading to other planets. The next target for the infection is Earth of course. Very basic, with a few twists that are pretty predictable. Not bad, but not original either.

The humans that Onyx works with are all two dimensional, not really providing much other than exposition. Which brings up the dialog, which is really rushed and dry. However, I don't blame the rushed feeling on the writers as much as I normally would. IDW does not have a DC or Marvel level budget, and I think the writers knew that they would only get a few issues to get their story out. It could have been handled a little better, a bit less on-the-nose, but they didn't have a lot of time to work with.

Where this book really shines is in its artwork, especially in the design of Onyx's armor and hard-light weapons. Onyx's movements and attacks are all clean, and it really carries the book. The look of the alien infection is less original, but still well done. I felt that the wildlife on Earth that became infected and started to attack had a nice hybrid look to them as well.

Overall, I enjoyed this comic for the fairly creative designs and artistic execution, but the writer didn't seem to stray too far from the beaten path. The sub-par story certainly benefited from the artwork and designs, but it wasn't enough to bring this up to a must-buy. I feel that that could have been greatly aided by a DC or Marvel budget, as having more time to reveal the details of this story would knock this title up a few notches.

I give IDW's Onyx a 4 out of 10

Sincerely,

The Bored Enthusiast