It’s the last day on Earth...a massive comet is about to hit so everything’s fucked.
It wasn’t until about half way through “Rock Night” that I got what was actually going on with this comic. I kept thinking, why does the artist keep changing and why does it keep jumping about in plot terms? Then I realised. Rock Night is actually an anthology of comics joined by an overriding theme and then jumbled up in as close a semblance of order as is possible.
The overriding theme is Brighton at the end of the world so apparently all the creators were asked to contribute with that in mind. Then the various comics were spliced up and made into this book.
I like the idea. It could in theory be much better and more rewarding than a typical anthology. In Rock Night the idea works well in places. At some points the joins are seamless and make a lot of sense, but at others the transition from one part to another can be jarring and you’re left thinking “what the?” especially in the places where the art is not quite up to scratch – so you can’t tell if they’re trying to draw the character from the previous story or a different character. Then you struggle to make out what is going on.
Speaking of the art, some of it is lovely. I honestly think Cosmo White’s art is the best I have seen in indy comics for quite some time. Beautifully confident and flawless. In addition, I’ve seen Dyer’s art before and I love his heavy black line work. The others range from ok ish to yuck. Some show promise, though, like James Gray and Bob Molesworth, when they make the effort.
The writings generally pretty good. “A Model Life” I found particularly interesting. In places there doesn’t seem much payoff for the story or anticlimactic endings, however, for the most part they fit together well.
Rock Night seems like an experiment. In places it comes close to working really well and showing you the potential of it. I don’t think they’ve quite pulled it off because it jumps about too much making it harder to follow than it would’ve been as a straight anthology.
That said, I’m glad they did it. If nothing else it shows the potential for anthology comics. They are aspiring to be more than the sum of their parts and I, for one, applaud them for that.
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