[.ca] CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Serial (ISBN 193238202X)

Mediocre plot, mediocre art, mediocre characters:
In his novels, Max Alan Collins manages to capture the feel of CSI quite well. He only defines the investigators with a few brush-strokes, just as the show does, spending the majority of his time focussing on the crimes themselves. The crimes he portrays are interesting and, when they aren't unique, keep your attention quite well. In this graphic novel, the crimes are . . . well, dull. A woman is strangled and her murderer is quickly and easily uncovered. There's no tension or interest there at all. I realize that many crimes are resolved quickly through forensics, but I'm not really interested in reading about them in graphic novel form. The other crimes echo the career of Jack the Ripper. Here, the foreknowledge of the characters about where the new Jack is going to strike, and who he's going to strike against, prevents us from really being in suspense over what's going to happen next. Perhaps because he's working in a purely visual medium, Collins gives us virtually no insight into the internal motives of any of the characters. As I'll note later, the characters are remarkably expressionless, so without internal monologue, external exposition or physical expression, the characters seem to be just meandering through a series of brutal murders with only a little character interaction to let us know what's going on in their heads. The graphic novel is hampered even further by decidedly amateurish art. The characters seem too short-limbed and stiff to be realistic, and in trying to copy their appearance on the show, the artist has drained them all of any meaningful expression. It sort of reminded me of watching a puppet show, with emotionless faces going about their tasks. That said, the plots are fairly solid, with only one major creditibility gap. At one point, Grissom makes a rather astute but legally meaningless connection between a suspect and somehow gets a search warrant out of it. Other than that, the plots seem fairly tight.

Great Fun!:
I've been a fan of Max Allan Collins for some time. He's a terrific mystery writer -- both prose novels and comic books. His talent really shines with this unique graphic novel. The mystery is an interesting one and his characterization is faithful to the show. And for anyone who knows the lore of Jack the Ripper, you'll discover that so does Collins. But what really surprised me was the quality of the art. Using 2 artists was a clever idea that really makes you feel like you're watching the tv show. I recommend this one to anyone who loves CSI or a well told (and well drawn) mystery.

Disappointing:
I watched a couple of CSI episodes so i knew what to expect in terms of plot, characters and such... I read the excellent "Road To Perdition" by Collins so i was sure he could deliver... But sadly, this book is a waste of time. The art is mediocre at best (except for Brian Wood's painted art for some extremely stylish a-la tv show cuts & flashbacks), the crime story itself isn't really interesting, but the biggest downside - you don't care what's going on. The writing is a bit heavy, but nevertheless it never captivates a reader. All main characters are in fact just one - "a CSI cop solving a crime", there's no feel for characters whatsoever. I was really disappointed by this book, because i expected to get more than (let me quote another reviewer here): "Mediocre plot, mediocre art, mediocre characters". I would probably read another CSI series at some point. Maybe the quality will improve. If you like comics and are looking for a solid crime story, i suggest to skip this one and read something else instead. "Gotham Central" for example (the first TPB is due April).