pedestrienne

I'd say Smoke is 4 stars and Ashes is 3, just because I wasn't a fan of the character evolution through the different artists. The characters are so themselves in Smoke, people with their own bodies and facial structures and styles that are part of the world that is built and drawn in that story, and they devolve into generic humans with distinctive hair by the end of Ashes. So that was a big disappointment. But it speaks to how strongly I reacted to the the characters in the relatively short Smoke, so that points to how effective it was. The story is a conspiracy/near future/spy-ish one. It didn't feel totally tired, and the writing made me pay attention - it's not all spelled out in narration or anything, which is great. I am going to actively seek out more Alex De Campi.