Broken Saints: The Animated Comic Epic (review)

There’s comic-book movies, and then there’s Broken Saints, a graphic novel come to life in a way so hypnotic that you’ll find yourself daydreaming about its shadowy imagery and rebellious attitude. What began as a series of Flash-animated stories distributed over the Internet has here become a full-blown comic-meets-cinematic experience, with dramatic voiceovers lending a newly immersive quality to a tale told through series of still, beautifully illustrated pictures. (Viewers can also choose to watch the narration-less version that garnered a devoted following online.) Told in a rambling freeform style, this tale of four people from around the planet inadvertently caught up in an apocalyptic conspiracy is strikingly original, but it hums with a dark paranoia fans of comic gods Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore will recognize... as well as the humanistic determination of the spirit their work celebrates as the weapon to fight that darkness. This astonishingly complete set features more than five hours of bonus material including commentary on the entire series with creator Brooke Burgess and others; multiple featurettes; panel discussions, lectures, and interviews with Burgess; fan art and films; DVD-ROM bonuses, such as MP3s and wallpapers; and much more.

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