Luke Owen reviews SEX #6, from Image Comics…
What is the Saturnalia?! Simon Cooke’s lawyer wants to know – and he’ll do anything to find out! And we do mean ANYTHING. Also this issue: the unfortunate consequences of hi-tech super-villainy. And you knew we’d eventually ask: Do SEX and politics mix?
Last month’s review highlighted the main problem with SEX as a series – it’s slow, monotonous with an almost boring pace. As a trade paperback, SEX would be a worthwhile investment as it has some decent character, some good intrigue and great artwork. But reading issue by issue on a monthly basis is taxing and hard work (but the great artwork always rings true).
In the letters section of the comic, Joe Casey addresses a few of these concerns by claiming he’s always been interested in “post-experience fiction”, meaning he has more of an interest in what happens to the characters after the credits roll. In that sense, SEX does work and his intriguing set-up still plays a big part in the comic’s overall tone. But we still haven’t moved any further than where we were five issues ago. Simon is still struggling with his new life, The Old Man is still looking for information and Keenan is still trying to work his way into becoming a vigilante. Casey is looking into the “post-experience” of the characters, but we never get a grasp of what happened either the “pre-experience” or if anything is going to happen now we’re in the “post”.
The latter of those three plot elements is the only piece of the puzzle that is moved forward in this issue, but is amazingly given the smallest amount of panel time other than Annabelle. What is frustrating about this is that these two have the most interesting story lines – the young kid who thinks he could be the next Armored Saint and the former vigilante who is now suffering the consequences of her scientific gadgets later in life. It’s in these scenes that we really get into the meat of what Casey’s series is trying to achieve, but it’s treated second fiddle to long, drawn-out scenes of Cooke and the Major talking about the class war of the city in which they live.
As always, the true star of SEX is Piotr Kowalski’s artwork, which is once again stunning. He captures every minuscule detail and even when he is drawing the most depraved of images (which do feature in this issue) he never makes it feel gratuitous (something the series could be considered as). In the earlier portions of SEX #6 he gives us some stunning visuals of Saturn City which really shows off just what scope the Universe Casey has created has.
But still, SEX #6 is just like every issue from this series so far and it is becoming increasingly difficult to recommend. Have you ever been told to watch a TV show with the caveat that you ‘just need to get through the first 6-7 episodes before it gets good’? That’s SEX in a nutshell. While it’s not looking likely, there is something in this set-up that suggests it will get good – it’s just unclear on when that will be.
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published September 2, 2013. Updated November 7, 2019.
