2 out of 5

The uncomfortableness of this book really made a lot more sense when I found out it was a print version of a motion comic.  The Comic Bastards review is definitely harsh with its criticisms, but the essential points are still valid.  I suppose as I found myself curious enough to tiptoe to issue 2, though, I’m allowing for another star.

The main problem with Cap Stone is that the description that’s on the inside front cover, which sounds sort of interesting – superhero Cap Stone is famous, makes an impending-catastrophe prediction that doesn’t come true and falls out of public favor, and then, some time later, it DOES come true but Cap has gone missing – this description is never present in the first issue, and barely in the second.  I sort of get Sharp’s and McCormack’s intent of approaching the story externally, with Cap’s family trying to find him, but without knowing anything about Stone or why what happened was so devastating that he had to leave, it’s impossible to build up any sense of care about the setup.  And the narrative doesn’t even really get to the point of a search, dawdling to introduce us to characters and explain their connection.  So we’re given no reason to care, and then things just stand still.  Sharp’s art is a plus / minus.  It’s very experimental, jumping between styles, which keeps the pages intriguing looking from afar, but the same character can appear incredibly different from page to page, so this even further tarnishes any sense of flow.

So, yeah, the story is super poorly executed, and the art – while inventive – doesn’t quite work in this static format as it might’ve in a motion comic.  But the first issue at least gives us a sense of a world, even if its not really intriguing yet, the pages and ‘extra’ material (an interview with Stone) feeling like a collage that’s that’s been patched together to tell us something.  The validity of this wears thin by the second issue though, meaning I won’t be reading any more of ‘Cap Stone.’