Comic Review: Bodie Troll #1

                I went into my comic shop yesterday with the full intent of reviewing the new He-Man series from DC.  Due to the fact that I needed one more comic to make my quota in order to use a coupon (hooray for coupons!) I chose a comic that looked appealing on the shelf but I was ready to pass over in the interest of saving money.  I am glad I didn’t, and my son shares that opinion.

Cover:

                The cover accurately represents the basic premise of the story while showcasing the exceptional artistic talents of creator Jay Fosgitt.  As I mentioned above, the cover grabbed me from the get-go.  I have long been looking for a comic that I could share with my son that we could read together.  He loves Transformers but those books are full of a lot more adult themes (just thematically, not robot sex you dirty perv) than he needs to be exposed to.  Those are the kinds of books that he can and will grow into.  The perfect “right now” comic for him comes in the form of Bodie Troll.

8/10 – A great illustration, encapsulating the entire premise of the book is coupled with a nice title design.  My only complaint would be how monochromatic the color is.

Story:

Bodie is a normal troll with one distinct difference.  He is cuter than any troll you have ever seen.  Even though he tries to do normal “troll things” like scaring goats (see the hilarious opening sequence for evidence of this) he is unable to be more than a cute pest as opposed to scary, domineering force.  You won’t see him eating Hobbits or terrorizing townsfolk.  The book itself focuses on who Bodie is along with his various relationships within the town and how the townsfolk perceive him.  If you had a really cute stray dog that could also talk and provide for himself, that would be Bodie and the way he fits in to the town.  His “boss” is a fairy godmother bar owner (and by boss I mean the person that provides him with dirty roots – his favorite food – in exchange for menial labor) and his friend is the barmaid.  This issue has him tasked with fetching a giant egg for the fairy godmother to cook.  It turns out that the egg is no normal egg as it hatches into a monster similar to the sand worms from Beetlejuice or Tremors.  It wreaks havoc, heading straight for the fairy godmother’s bar.  When Bodie tries to stop it, it eats him!  We are then treated to the one weakness of these creatures: troll pee!  As Bodie mentions, “Have you ever been swallowed by a monster?  Let’s see you try not to tinkle!”  Whether this will play out in a larger story or not I have no idea, but as a standalone issue it works really well. 

9/10 – The story has the perfect setting and pace for young readers while also offering enough interesting characters for the adults that read it to them.  It takes what cartoons like Shrek did and leaves out the pop-culture references, focusing instead on the stories and the character interactions.

Art:

                Take Mike Kunkel’s Herobear and the Kid and mix in a bit of Lilo & Stitch and you will have the art style behind Bodie Troll.  It’s Saturday morning cartoon cute, but packs so much rich detail that it is just a delight to look at.  Jay Fosgitt takes a page out of the Jeff Smith storytelling book with his pacing and it works wonderfully.  With so many interesting creatures, you would think that the actual humans would get lost in the mix, but Fosgitt gives each of them a look and personality all their own as well.  Every panel, every page of this book screams “pet project” and you can see how much work he has put into this.  Need I also mention that the coloring and lettering is handled by Fosgitt as well?  He does it all, and he doesn’t sacrifice any one part in favor of another.  Everything works in perfect conjunction and as a whole is one of the best top to bottom comics I have seen this year.

This is what happens when he tries to eat goats...classic!

There are no "cookie cutter" people here.  Everyone has a design and a personality.

More characters including the hand puppet that acts as a "town crier" of sorts.

Yay for storytelling!

10/10 – If Fosgitt doesn’t win some kind of award for his work here than the right people just aren’t paying attention. 

Overall: 9/10 – If you have a kid, this is the perfect pick up for you to introduce them to the magic of comic books.  If you just want a fun story with incredible artwork, pick it up for yourself, you won’t be disappointed, and if you are you are just no fun.