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.
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