Comic Review: Satellite Sam #1

                I saw a pre-release interview with Satellite Sam creators Howard Chaykin and Matt Fraction a couple weeks ago and the premise looked incredibly interesting.  I love stories that transport us back in time, even if it’s only a few years, and with this one sending us back to 1951 it really piqued my interest.  Let’s see if it lives up to my expectations.

Cover:

                Chaykin’s cover pretty much tells you all about the inciting incident of the series right off the bat.  While we don’t know who any of the characters on the cover are, we have an idea that the “spaceman” is Satellite Sam, so it’s pretty obvious that this starts with his murder at the hands of this random scantily clad woman.  The imagery of blood spatter inside the helmet with just a single bullet hole is gruesome and intriguing at the same time.  It is 100 times more effective of an image than if Chaykin had drawn it more realistically with the mangled face of the corpse visible in the helmet. 

                A couple issues I had with the art were not dealbreakers by any means, but made me pause a bit when I was looking at it.  Satellite Sam himself looks a bit flat.  There doesn’t seem to be a lot of weight and depth to the character (which is in direct contrast to all of the revelations we are going to find out over the course of the series).  The foot of the woman is also planted firmly on the hand of Sam, and yet her leg is straight and her foot is flat, as if she is standing on the ground itself.  Chaykin could have moved the hand up a bit and it would have worked better in my opinion.  I would have thought that maybe, just maybe, the suit was empty, but there is no indication that is the case given the weight provided to the gloves and boots. 

8/10 – A striking narrative cover can’t be spoiled by a few graphic missteps.  The woman is well drawn (what little we can see anyway) and the coloring is great.  The attention to detail is incredible as well, especially in the undergarments of the woman.  Chaykin could have made up some silly design that didn’t look as realistic but was easier to execute, yet he went a more authentic route.

Story:

                The best thing about the story is that it starts with Satellite Sam already dead.  That sounds a little morbid, but the reaction to his death, from thinking that he just hasn’t shown up for his job, to realizing that he is gone but his job still needs to be done, is more impressive than a linear narrative that included the act as well.  Being on the periphery of the murder and experiencing it along with everyone else gives us a closer tie to the living than it would if we had just seen the murder happen because we are finding out with them without being desensitized to it.  Their reactions are our reactions and we are sharing something with them as opposed to just reading about them.  The fact that this story starts off with the death of the title character (or at least the guy that plays that character on the television show) serves to throw many wheels in motion that will most likely reveal more mysteries than resolutions for some time to come. 

                While the plot and the overall craft of the story is excellent.  The first twelve to fifteen pages, up and through the reveal of Sam’s death, does not feel like a comic book.  The feel of the story to that point is almost like a movie script.  The frenetic pace coupled with the way that the characters are speaking would feel more at home in a movie setting than in the static world of a comic book.  It almost feels like Fraction is trying to control the pace by throwing as much dialogue as possible at you from the get go, except it’s not really saying much.  I’m not against dialogue heavy comics (hell, I grew up with the X-Men in the early nineties for Christ’s sake) but that dialogue seemed to have a purpose.  The opening half of issue one of Satellite Sam feels like the opening of a movie, before the title card.  You almost expect the names of the “talent” to scroll across the page as if you were watching it unfold on the big screen of your local movie theater.  While I understand what Fraction was trying to do to a point, it doesn’t have the desired effect on me, so I would have to say that it was unsuccessful.

6/10 – The story is good, I’m just not too sold on the delivery system as of yet.  Obviously there is a possibility that it will even itself out (and it kind of did after we got out of the television studio) but if it dips back into that break-neck, throw all these words at you kind of pace, it will revert to the unimpressive nature that it was for the first half of issue one.

Art:

                First of all, I’m all for black and white comics.  Love them.  Second, Chaykin is a master of creating textures in this medium.  Where many comics nowadays are eschewing texture for clean, crisp lines that leave plenty of room for the colorist to work, Chaykin has instead filled up the entire book with texture and character.  This is done in all manner of ways, from zipatone backgrounds to ink splatter, grease pencil and straight up pen and ink textures.  I love it all.  Everything is detailed and realistic, with just a hint of cartoony in there so you realize you are reading a comic book. The characters are not stylized but they are not to the point where they look traced out of a magazine.  The backgrounds are beautifully done and look just like a legitimate backdrop of 1950s New York City. 

                Sometimes the art gets a little odd in terms of proportion (hands being too small and things like that) but the only reason that is inherently noticeable is because the rest of it is spot on.  When you have something that looks incredible, any little wart is going to stand out.  The warts here do not detract from the overall product though, as Chaykin has done an incredible job of utilizing all of the traditional comic-making media to his advantage in crafting a period piece that feels like a period piece.  This is not an easy feat given that it is all in black and white, but he does it, and does it better than I have seen in a long time.

9/10 – Chaykin delivers, showing that he is still one of the better artists out there and that a no-frills, back to basics approach to comic making can work well in the hands of a master.

Overall:  7/10 – The saving grace of the first half of the book is that it is pretty to look at.  When The story catches up to the writing it makes the book incredible.   

Comic Review: I Love Trouble #5

                Whoever said that monkeys sell comics (was it Mort Weisinger?  I think it was…) was spot on.  Guess what was on the cover of I Love Trouble #5?  A monkey!

 Cover:

                First of all, the monkey earns some brownie points off the bat.  The fact that the art style by Mark A. Robinson seems to be a slight cross between Frank Cho and Humberto Ramos (leaning far closer to Ramos) means that it creates a visually appealing cover that draws interest.  The coloring tones everything down a bit too much for my taste (and it doesn’t help that the paper has a matte finish and is surrounded by glossy covers on the racks).  The subject matter is closely related to the story of the comic, making this a quasi-narrative cover, which in my book gets it extra bonus points.  I like the logo as well, but it all is just way too blue.

5/10 +1 for the Monkey – This is a slightly effective cover that would have been better served with a little brighter coloring.

Story:

                I’m at a loss here.  I like the story by Kel Symons, and I especially like the pacing within the story, but I really don’t know what it’s about.  I get little snippets here and there that the main character Felicia is an assassin, with teleportation powers, maybe, it looks like teleportation is part of her powers at least.  She was presumed to be dead as the result of a plane crash and since then has been laying low (aside from the whole assassin thing).  I’m not sure how she got the powers, or even why at this point.  Plus there are other people with powers, some guy that can allow you to see what he has seen for example, but I’m not sure about the significance or prevalence of these powers in the grand scheme of things.  She used to kill without a conscience until a little kid saw her kill his mother, now she goes to therapy to deal with her demons (that seem to have manifested themselves in the form of a monkey – hence the cover).  She has been dicked around for most of her time since coming back from the dead, with her ex-boyfriend now banging her sister, even though he is kind of back together with her…

                Did you catch all that?  No?  Don’t worry, I only half got it myself.

                The highlight of the issue is the dialogue.  Symons has a great ability to not only highlight the relationship between the main character and her psychiatrist (with a little extra thrown in by the monkey, probably representing her subconscious and the things she wish she could say) but also the relationship between two siblings, highlighting the feelings that might take place upon seeing someone you loved come back from the dead, and then realizing that maybe you were better off with them being actually dead the whole time. 

Symons does a great job of establishing the relationships of the people, but he fails at establishing the story in an issue by issue basis.  Like I outlined above, there is a lot to go over and not a lot of clues as to how any of it fits together.  Even in the context of the issue itself, it’s hard to see where things are going.  For example, Felicia, after finishing her session with the psychologist, appears to ask the receptionist Gayle (who we are just meeting for the first time if you are new to the comic) to go out to a bar with her.  Never mind that it’s 11am (I don’t judge) but are these two friends?  Did they strike up a relationship based on Felicia’s time spent at the psychologist?  I get it that Felicia opened up more to Gayle in the bar than she did to the psychologist, that’s a nice touch, but in the rush to make the point, it feels like the writer forgot to connect points A and B first.  Plus, what is Felicia’s connection to the strange guy with the “do you see what I see” power?  Do they work together?  If not, why would a trained assassin let such a shady-looking guy get so close?

4/10 – There are many positives to the writing here in terms of the dialogue and just that subtle message about the nature of therapy, however the fact that nothing is really established, and connections are not clarified makes me feel kind of lost.

Art:

                As stated above, the art by Robinson has a very Ramos-esque quality to it, which is nice without being a total ripoff.  I love the fact that the art pulls back, so that the characters are tiny, especially in those scenes where dialogue is key and the writer requires a bit more room.  Instead of trying to make everything fit, Robinson picks his moments and lets the dialogue do the work in these quieter scenes.  The marriage of dialogue and art is perfect. 

Trying to squeeze a fully detailed office scene into here while leaving room for dialogue would have been as much a pain to do as it would have been to read.  Sometimes simple is better.

                There are a few instances where it’s not 100% clear what is going on, which generally seems to coincide with the text being a bit unclear as well. 

This portion being the critical offender

                I’m sure that I’ve said it before, but I prefer art like this, that’s a bit more abstract, a bit more cartoony than you would traditionally find in comic books.  That’s one of my favorite things about comic books post-1990.  Before that, most artists were trying to draw like John Buscema, Bernie Wrightson or Joe Kubert (to name a few, my list could go on for pages).  After the comics explosion of the 1990s, it seemed like any and every style was incorporated at the Big Two, which in turn made them accepted throughout the comics community as they gained that mainstream exposure.  I like this art, even if the proportions aren’t always right, or the backgrounds are not generally drawn using a ruler.  It should also be noted that the coloring by Paul Little is some of the best I have seen.  It’s lush and highly detailed, yet complements the line art exceptionally well instead of drawing attention away from it. 

It's all very well done, but that damn monkey is my favorite part, hands down. 

7/10 – The pacing and storytelling are both very well executed in many areas and page composition is well done throughout the book. 

Overall:  6/10 – This may be one in which you wait for the trade to come out to pick it up, but I would suggest picking it up one way or another.

Comic Review – Clone #5

            I’ve heard good things about Clone.  Let’s see if they are true!

Cover:

            First things first, the cover is by the interior artist (Juan Jose Ryp) and it actually depicts something that happens.  Those are two distinct marks in the “+” column as far as I’m concerned.  The illustration itself is well done, full of action, full of movement, and full of intrigue for the interior subject matter.  I have never read Clone before, and while this cover does not tell me anything about the story as a whole, it does tell me that it is (or at least should be) exciting.  The quality of the art itself is great as well.  Everything is hyper-detailed, which makes the fact that this woman is hanging out of an airplane while firing a gun believable in an unbelievable kind of way.  Hell, even the logo is clear and readable.  Well done all around.

9/10 – It’s an action movie in a comic cover, well done.

Story:

            Dialogue is pretty sparse, especially in the early-going, but the story does move right along.  This is a good thing in some respects as it gives Ryp’s art a chance to really star (more on that in a bit) but it does make for a short read.  Writer David Schulner has done a decent job of crafting a story that, while it does feel a bit like it’s been done before, at least has the possibility of finding its own voice.  There is an interesting sub-plot with the vice president and some guy that isn’t identified, but he scowls a lot so I assume he’s a bad guy.  It shows where the loyalty lies for the vice president when he ultimately makes his decision and sets up a very sinister bad guy for future use.  The big reveal that the individual that I assume is the main character is the “original”, the one that all of the clones come from, and that he is dying, is a nice twist.  You can go into a story like this thinking one of two things, that the main character is the original or that he is one of the clones.  Either way, it feels like a more grounded version of Marvel’s Multiple Man.  With the government conspiracy angle that arises though, it is possible that this will actually be an effective story upon its completion. 

            Even at this stage of the game, where you expect the first story-arc to be winding down, the nuggets placed for future stories are not only appreciated but are downright delightful.  It’s obvious that Schulner has a lot of faith in this and is ready and willing to reward those readers that share his faith.  None of the characters are inherently likable, there isn’t enough dialogue there for me to form an opinion, but some of the situations that he puts the characters through makes you feel for them a bit, and I have a feeling if I had read the previous four issues I may be more invested in the characters themselves.  This may be his intent though as the plot of the story, at least in this issue, takes precedence.  That’s an artistic interpretation though and it’s specific to the creator on how he wants to drive the plot forward.  I am more of a character driven plot guy myself, but I absolutely can see the other side.  It’s possible that read in trade paperback form, more of a balance will be struck.

7/10 – It’s good, though a bit light on the dialogue for my tastes.  I can see a solid base though, and it is an intriguing storyline that it feels like Schulner has a distinct vision for. 

Art:

            Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat.  Juan Jose Ryp, you make good art.  Okay, to be a bit more specific, the amount of detail that he puts into each page and each image on said page is remarkable.  This is not even counting the stippling effect, which has to be a brush in Photoshop right?  There’s no way that is done by hand as consistently as it is.  I am still impressed, don’t get me wrong.  In fact the first thought that crossed my mind when I looked at the first page was “How does he stay on schedule?”

This is the page that made me stand up and take notice right out of the gate.

You can see a lot of Geoff Darrow in all of the minute details that he puts into his work.  Nothing seems out of place, and he doesn’t sacrifice essential elements like perspective and anatomy for detail, nor does he use that detail to just cover up flaws in his own ability. 

            There is no cookie-cutter face for the characters here (which is saying a lot in a book called Clone) and everyone seems to be sporting an expression that is appropriate for the situation they are placed in.  It’s this manic attention to detail in all aspects of the artwork that make Ryp’s work stand above that of his peers.

            It should also be noted that colorist Felix Serrano does a great job with keeping everything realistic and using light and shadow effectively in conjunction with the massive amount of detail.  

There is so much detail and acting in a bunch of nonessential characters here.  It's like they each have a story to tell and aren't just cardboard cutouts.

You can tell he's the bad guy because he always has this scowl every time you see him.  

The only flaw in Ryp's work is that the amount of detail can often make the women look mannish and that her lips look like a kielbasa.

9/10 – This was an impressive artistic undertaking and from all of the promos for the previous four issues along with the preview for issue six, Ryp has been nothing if not consistent. 

Overall: 8/10 – The story was promising and the artwork is outstanding.  Highly, highly recommended. 

Comic Review: Peter Panzerfaust #10

            I’m not really sure how a comic that combines two of my favorite things: the reworking of classic stories (in this case Peter Pan) and anything to do with WWII, flew under my radar for so very long, but it did.  Now that I know about it, and my expectations are boosted accordingly, let’s see if it lives up to them. 

Cover:

            I assume because this story deals with the Peter Pan mythos, that the women on the cover are Tiger Lily and Wendy.  It is a fairly generic cover, just two characters against a black background, but considering that they play a pretty big part in staging a rescue in this issue, it seems fitting that they are sharing the cover.  There is no narrative quality to the cover at all but it does paint them as strong women that are not going to be the “damsel in distress” type during this story. 

            The illustration itself is heavily inked but does a good job of differentiating between the different textures of skin and cloth and adding just enough detail to make it realistic but not oversaturating it. The best part is that artist Tyler Jenkins makes sure that each woman is not a carbon copy of the other.  They are obviously different ethnicities, but they are also dressed differently and are even holding different pistols, with Wendy holding one that appears to be more German in make as opposed to Lily’s traditional one.  Jenkins obviously put a lot of thought into not only the initial character design, but also the design of the cover itself instead of just slapping a couple characters onto a cover.

            The best part of this cover is the logo though.  Between the red color with the white outlines and the silhouette of the tank, it just works wonderfully as not only a stand-alone logo, but also as a logo on the comic itself.  It draws attention to the book with the color choice and definitely conveys a sense of what the book is about.  It almost has an old-school feel to me, like it belongs in the 1940s or something like that.  I’m not sure why, but I look at that and immediately it puts me in the right mindset to read this book.

8/10 – It’s not going to win any “cover of the year” votes, but it is very effective.

Story:

             There was no recap page in the front, so I was honestly a little lost when I started.  Writer Kurtis Wiebe does a decent job of creating a sullen mood like you would find during this time in history (and the art helps that along exponentially, but I’ll get to that in a bit) but the setup is lost.  Where are they exactly?  I see that there are soldiers around, but are they in a concentration camp or are they a ghetto, like the Jewish one set up in Warsaw?  It’s pretty unclear and isn’t helped by the lack of backgrounds.  All I can tell is that they are all on the roof of some building, which is probably only being used as a plot device so that Wiebe can introduce the wooden plank that the prisoners (if that’s what they are) will have to walk out to before getting shot.

This plank.

While I don’t really understand all of what is going on, the imagery that Wiebe paints in terms of the setting relating to the pirate ship in the initial Pan story is awesome.  This is why I like retellings so much, for those little Easter Eggs that a smart writer will throw in to help you make the correlation.  It’s one thing to have characters by with the same names as their classic counterparts, it’s another thing entirely to conjure up familiar imagery in unfamiliar situations, which Wiebe does exceptionally here. 

            This is my first foray into the world of Peter Panzerfaust, do all of the issues wind up shooting us into the future, post-war?  While I like that this is being relayed to someone else, as if they were conducting an interview in order to write a book or article, it does take a little of the suspense out of the story.  While we don’t expect Peter or Tiger Lily, or anyone for that matter, to actually die because they don’t in the original story, knowing that these individuals make it out alive does remove the stakes here somewhat.  It’s not a major gripe because, really, who doesn’t want a happy ending, but it would be nice to have some speculation as to who of the main characters would make it out of the war alive. 

7/10 – It’s a bit confusing with the amount of characters that get thrown at you, and the fact that a setting is not really established bother me a bit.  However, the way that Wiebe intertwines the story for his characters with bits and pieces of the original Peter Pan makes for an interesting and entertaining read.

Art:

            This is the kind of art that I like.  Cartoony but still grounded in realism.  I know there are many of you out there that want to see Bryan Hitch type realism in every panel, and that is a fight that we can have at a different time, just know that the art here fits the time period and tone of the story perfectly. 

            As much as I enjoy the lineart, I have to admit that the best part about the art in this book is the coloring by Heather Breckel.  She does a great job of creating a mood in each different “act” of this issue.  She lets the heavy inks do their thing but isn’t afraid to punctuate the tone with her own skill set.  As cartoony as the art is, she makes it feel real.  If Jenkins had drawn this with stick figures I guarantee that it would have a similar feel based on the way she colors.  Great job.

            Now, on to some not so great observations.  Do you remember how I mentioned that the cover was well done in part because of the way that Jenkins differentiated the two women?  It doesn’t happen so much with the men in the interiors.  Aside from Peter’s big swooping hairstyle, all of the men look a little too similar to make much of a distinction.  The only one that really stood out aside from Peter was Julien, because of his afro.  If you remove the hairstyles, all of the men look essentially the same. 

            The lack of backgrounds here is pretty ridiculous.  I understand not putting a detailed background in every panel of every page, but at times it looks like Jenkins is basically putting lines in for rain and deciding that that will be his background.  Like I said earlier, that does very little to help establishing a setting. 

A whole page where the only background is rain.  I would think they are in Britain, but how would I know?

5/10 – There are some really good parts of the art in this issue (the coloring being number one), but the overall confusing nature of the art doesn’t assist a script that doesn’t do much establishing work itself. 

Overall:  6/10 – This is a great concept with okay execution that may be falling into the “writing for the trade” trap.  I could easily see this as a chapter in a graphic novel or a trade paperback, not so much as a stand alone issue.

Comic Review: Bedlam #5

            I never even really knew that this comic existed, but because my normal Wednesday routine was thrown on its ear yesterday, I found myself at a shop with all of the usual Marvel and DC offerings, but very little else.  Needless to say, I won’t be much of a patron there going forward.  I basically had to settle on Bedlam because there were no other options.  Here’s how that turned out.

Cover:

            I like the cover image by Fraser Irving as a piece of art.  As a cover, the art works, but the design doesn’t.  Everything is a darker shade of whatever color it is supposed to be.  This would be fine if it was just the image that was involved.  Unfortunately it also extends to all of the text.  While it’s okay in regards to the Image Comics logo (though it does create a strange grey blob in the lower corner), my main problem is that the text blends in with the art way more than it should.  This is especially apparent in the tagline to the comic right underneath the title.  The text itself s so small and so slight that it gets lost.  “Is evil just something you are or something you do?” is a great line, one of the best selling points for the comic, but it should be a little more prominent, or hell, a little more readable at least, in my opinion.

            The grey illustration, illuminated by the pink light in the background provides for a nice uneasiness that goes well with the subject matter. 

5/10 – The illustration is good but as a cover it doesn’t really hold up in my opinion.

Story:

            We start out with a flashback, and come back to those flashbacks as we continue through the issue.  They do a decent job of setting things up within the story, but we are given very little context to start things out.  I don’t really have the time, nor the inclination to count the number of “fucks” in this issue, but it feels almost as excessive and ridiculous as that Walking Dead issue I reviewed.  We are then taken to the present where a creepy guy is teamed up with a cop to catch a serial killer because he’s a “chemist” or something.  It’s weird and not very interesting to tell you the truth.  The flashbacks are relatively interesting but they seem to be building up to the big reveal that the guy behind the mask is actually the individual working with the cop.  I haven’t read any of the other issues but I figured that out within three pages.  Was that actually supposed to be a surprise?  It feels like the writer (Nick Spencer) is trying to do that a lot.  Trying to build things up to a big reveal but, at least to me, they wind up becoming a kind of “duh, of course that happened” kind of moment.  The whole book is incredibly predictable. Even the part where the female cop passes out, I didn’t know for sure how her partner spiked her drink, but I knew that he did.  Therefore, all the grand reveals at the end meant absolutely nothing to me.  Am I the only one that saw these things coming ahead of time?  I couldn’t have been.  The problem is that without the big reveals, everything else is pretty standard and boring. 

2/10 – If everything wasn’t so telegraphed and obvious, Spencer could have had a pretty decent book, unfortunately it suffers from being formulaic and confusing.

Art:

            The art by Riley Rossmo is sketchy and gritty which works well with the subject matter.  The problem is that it is just graphically unappealing to me.  I know that some people may like it, but it feels like and unrefined Ashley Wood.  I thought (and hoped) that the art would grow on me throughout the book as something that is so far outside of my comfort zone generally does.  Unfortunately here it does not. 

            Technically it is decent.  The storytelling is effective and efficient, and everything is anatomically and proportionally correct.  I love the way that the regular present day time (in color) is split from the flashback (grey toned with splashes of red).  I am not sure who’s call it was to do it like that but it was very smart.  With the grey and red signifying his life in the sanitarium perfectly, and the color showing him leading more of a vibrant life.  It feels more like a storyboard for a movie than it does an actual comic book though and I wish they would have paid a bit more attention to making it successful in its current incarnation than in looking ahead. 

It's pretty bad when my favorite piece of artwork is what adorns the back cover.

 3/10 – Good color choices are nearly negated by what looks like a rushed inking job.

Overall:  4/10 – I know that getting your stories and ideas picked up for other mediums is where the big money is made, but if your comic book is not that good then a movie probably won’t get made from it.  The moral of the story is: don’t get your comics in a shop that has devoted ¾ of it’s space to overpriced toys.

Comic Review: Uncanny Skullkickers #1 (Skullkickers #19)

            The comics industry is ridiculous.  Just this week a question was posed by Sean Murphy (mastermind behind Punk Rock Jesus) that basically asked, with the music industry recently bouncing back in terms of sales, when will comics see a resurgence?  My answer to him was that given the fact that we just had fifty-two variant covers (see last week’s rant) and that there is a gold-foil chromium cover coming for Age of Ultron, comics is trending in the wrong direction.  We are repeating the stupidity of the 1990’s all over again, except we don’t have the build-up to it that we did throughout the 80’s and there are still people that remember when the bubble burst and we all came to the realization that the days of a comic book selling 500,000 copies was far in the past.

            No one in the comics industry seems to understand how ridiculous the current comics industry is like Jim Zub, writer and creator of Skullkickers.  This is apparent given his willingness to renumber his comic starting at #1 (but only on the cover) and change the name to Uncanny Skullkickers to piggy back on the trio of Uncanny comics over at Marvel (three Uncanny comics, are you kidding me?)  The best part is the blurb on the top of the cover, right above the title:  “We figured out what our series was missing: adjectives!”  It’s a lighthearted middle finger to Marvel which relies on adjectives in place of creativity when it comes to providing titles for their comics (not so much with DC, which has somehow avoided being bitten by the adjective bug – maybe because Uncanny Batman just sounds stupid). 

            For this reason alone I should just award the comic with a ten out of ten based solely on the fact that Jim Zub is unafraid of poking the bear and refuses to take what he is doing too seriously.  That would discredit the work done on the actual comic though and given that Zub and artist Edwin Huang are one of the best teams out there (right up there with Layman/Guillory and Kirkman/Ottley), it would be a good idea to judge the comic on it’s merits and then award bonus points where they are warranted for Zub’s big brass balls.

            With that image firmly embedded in your brain, let’s get to it shall we?

Cover:

            Originally, you may look at the four variant covers and call Zub a hypocrite.  He’s thumbing his nose at the system, yet going along with it at the same time.  If you look closer, you will see that two of the covers are not “general public” covers (one being an exclusive for the upcoming Emerald City Comic-Con and the other a Phantom Variant (which probably has to do with quantity ordered, I’m not 100% sure on the variant cover specifics).  The other two covers are the standard ones you would see if you went into a comic shop.  One is for Uncanny Skullkickers #1(the one I picked up) and the other is for Skullkickers #19, which follows the familiar motif of having the illustration take place in a frame created from the skull logo.  Those people looking to get in on the joke can pick up the Uncanny cover while those that want a uniform collection of Skullkickers comics can pick up the other.  It’s actually incredibly smart on his part and is a more legitimate variant cover scheme than just pasting a new flag on each one.

            The artwork on the cover itself is drawn by Huang, the interior artist and shows the two main characters busting through a page of the comic (an homage of sorts to past covers that have utilized that motif).  While this cover is not narrative, it does utilize the “busting through” action to piggyback on the title which works just as well.  Honestly, if this was a true #1 issue, a cover like this would be fine, and if you wanted a cover that was more narrative in nature (or at least as narrative as Skullkickers covers in the past, then that option is available). 

            The artwork itself is nice and clean and utilizes bold linework to accentuate the characters while also leaving enough room for the colorist (Misty Coats) to do a wonderful job.  The lighthearted nature of the title itself is reflected in the way that this is colored.  Dark colors are few and far between, with things that you would normally see as black (a belt or shoes, or something like that) colored as a dark grey or blue.  While the story and some of the language in it may not be entirely for kids, the art has a feel of something you would sit down and watch on Saturday mornings.  (I would watch the shit out of a Skullkickers cartoon by the way).   

9/10 – Huang and Coates are an incredible artistic combination that brings the cover to life without deviating from the general mood of the series. 

Story:

            This is the first issue of a new story-arc and it feels like both a number one issue, but also a continuation of the series.  I have seen a lot of comics in the past that treat the first issue of a story arc like a brand new series, rarely making mention of what happened in the previous issues.  This not only makes mention of it, it’s an integral part of the story.  This is what happens next, as in directly after the events of the last issue.  Instead of a one paragraph blurb about what happened in the previous eighteen issues, we get two whole pages devoted to catching us up. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I have read the first two Skullkickers trades (my local comic shop never got the third trade in, which seems to be a common theme for them with anything that doesn’t have a Marvel, DC or Walking Dead on the cover).  I have never read a single issue though and really wanted to see how the writing translated to more of a serial format.  By not reading the previous issues though, I was a little lost when I didn’t see the dwarf on the cover.  What happened, did he magically transform into the elf chick (they do have the same color hair, and I wouldn’t put it past Zub to introduce something zany like that into the mix)?  Luckily, by page two we are told that the Dwarf is dead.  Well, okay, that’s that I guess.  While I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes back to life at some point (especially considering the amount of magic and mysticism that is thrown around in the earlier trades) the running gag in this issue was a single panel at the bottom of the page that showed the Dwarf’s dead body floating in the ocean.  I, like many people I’m sure, expected something to happen by the end; a twitch or something, to tell us that the Dwarf is alive.  Nope.  The consistency is hilarious, and the fact that we as readers were probably hanging on that moment as much as we were the action above it shows what a good job Zub has done in establishing the Dwarf as a character. 

The rest of the story follows the bald guy (apparently named Rex – I really need to pick up that last trade to get filled in) and his new companion, the Elf girl named Kusia.  They’ve washed up on the shore of an island, and aside from a brief interlude that has to deal with Glacier Giants, they are the sole focus of this book.  The story is fairly slow moving, but what it lacks in progress, it makes up for in little character moments.  My favorite part, aside from the reveal that they are on an island inhabited by giant horned monkeys, is the page where they take stock of what meager supplies they possess. 

This page

These are the moments that the writing shines through.  A different writer may have glossed over this completely, or may have talked about each item in intimate detail, but Zub finds a way to explain what things are and inject a bit of humor into each scrap of wood or broken crate that is in the survivor’s possession.  It’s small moments like this that show me that while there are obviously grand plans in the works for these characters, it is still a comic book and the actions therein shouldn’t be taken with such extreme gravitas as to warrant death threats or hate mail when something happens that a fan doesn’t like. 

My one complaint is, and has always been, the sound effects.  Now I may be alone in this because the writing tutorial Zub gives at the end (a great reason to pick up the comic on its own) says that a lot of people like them.  In the first few trades they were okay, a mild annoyance but not overbearing.  Now, they seem to be a little too dominant.  I think that the joke is getting overused to the point where it won’t be as funny anymore, but like I said, no one else may share this opinion.

These are instances where it is done well, and actually adds to the humor without distracting from Huang's artwork

9/10 – A great jumping on point for anyone that hasn’t read the series before, with jokes aplenty.  The writing tutorial in the back is worth the price of admission itself.  Just reading the script makes me want to illustrate something that Zub has written, anything, even a eulogy.  I’d draw the hell out of a Zub-penned eulogy.

Art:

            Speaking of drawing the hell out of something, Huang is great at drawing in a cartoon style without making it look too cartoony.  Everything has weight and definition , almost Ed McGuinnes in nature without everyone looking like they are on steroids.  Hatching is basically non-existent and blacks are rarely, if ever, spotted.  This goes to show what an incredible find Misty Coats and Ross Campbell were.  They interpret everything perfectly, adding definition and mood to the story and the characters through their use of light and shadow. 

            Huang does a great job treating the characters as actors and not static playthings, with each panel and page showing a great deal of movement.  You never get the impression that anyone is ever standing around, straight up and down (even when they are).  This ability translates to the faces as well as Huang maximizes the facial expressions without using eyes.  This shows how good he is, as 90% of the time the eyes are little more than a line on the face, indicating either a squint or a fully closed eye, or they are circles, just circles, nothing fancy.  The fact that he can convey so much emotion without using the most expressive part of a face shows his mastery over body language and characterization. 

This sequence is great.  It lets the art tell the story and gives us information about the characters by showing us instead of hitting us over the head with it.  Plus the artwork, even in lighter moments like these, is so well executed, you can tell that Huang isn't just in it for the fight scenes. 

            The only misstep I noticed was the massive tangent created between Kusia’s sword and a leaf in a couple panels.

This sequence

 I don’t know if I would have noticed it outright if I hadn’t been reading it with my critic-pants on, but in a comic full of hits, one slight miss doesn’t really warp my perception of it.

10/10 – Between the crisp, clean linework and the beautiful, expressive coloring, this may be one of the best art teams in the business today, especially because they are on this book, one that maximizes their abilities and rewards that teamwork.

Overall:  9/10 – Buy this book.  Seriously.  Buy all of the back issues and then buy this book.  It is one of the smartest, funniest, self-aware books on the market and makes for required reading of anyone that just wants to enjoy a comic book without any extra frills or headaches. 

Comic Review: The End Times of Bram and Ben #2

            I don’t think I ever realized this growing up, but the comics industry is a lot like the music industry.  Instead of looking for fresh ideas, they are looking for the next (fill in the blank) until a fresh idea punches them in the face.  They were looking for the next Nirvana in the ‘90’s which beget bands like Bush and Godsmack.  They were looking for the next Nickelback in the 2000’s which beget bands like Seether and Hinder.  The same thing happened in comics and I never really understood it until now.  In the early ‘90’s everyone drew like Rob Liefeld, then they started to draw like Joe Madureira.  As independent titles grew in popularity in the last decade, everyone is looking for the “next” Walking Dead, or Chew.  That’s the comparison we get a lot nowadays, Chew.  This is obviously due in large part to the continued quality that is a monthly Chew book, and is a testament to Layman and Guillory for their hard work. 

The problem is, any book that is a little off the wall, or has characters that are not drawn in a realistic sense is dubbed “The next Chew” regardless of the merits it has on its own.  I recently heard this about Todd The Ugliest Kid on Earth at a site that is not really renowned (in my humble opinion) for it’s reporting, or it’s spell check for that matter.  Todd, is a fun book, it gets a little flat in the second issue and it is not nearly as fun as issue one, but it is interesting if for no other reason than trying to figure out where it’s going in the next two issues.

            That being said, Todd is not Chew, and it will not be Chew, and trying to drum up sales by saying that is the “next” Chew is ridiculous.  The whole point of independent books is that they hopefully have their own identity.  If you want formulaic corporate crap go read stuff from the Big Two.  If a creative team sits down saying that they want to create the “next” Invincible, or Spawn or whatever, then they have already lost.  Let’s celebrate some original thoughts and ideas instead of trying to stick them into a category so it’s easier to stock them on the shelves of our brain.  Maybe if the comic news writers showed an iota of the creativity of some of these independent creators, they wouldn’t be writing about someone else’s comics for a living.

            Okay, end of rant.

            Now, if you want a fresh concept, look no further.  The end of the world is by no means a new plot device in comics or any other media, but the hallmark of creativity is taking something old and making it new again.  Let’s see how this apocalypse works out.

Cover:

            While I am not sure of the significance of the girl on the cover between Bram (with the devil tattoo) and Ben (the angel tattoo) this cover does show you that inside Ben makes a choice to oppose the forces of hell and Bram.  This is a very “artsy” cover with a great sense of design and JAW Cooper should be commended for making a quality illustration that doubles for good comic cover as well.  The only issues I have with it would be the fact that it is so very grey.  Not that the apocalypse should be brightly colored or anything, but if you’re trying to sell a book without first catching their eye with a bright illustration, or at least something to pull them away from the latest Bat book, then you may be setting yourself up to fail.  The other issue is the fact that the art styles are so different between cover and interior.  I don’t mind because as you’ll see in a bit, I like the interior art, plus my comic shop doesn’t pre bag it’s books so I can flip through to determine if I want to buy instead of taking a chance based solely on a cover illustration. 

7/10: Aside from the minor issues discussed above, the cover is solid as both a comic cover and an overall illustration.  Remove the words and blow it up and it would make a cool poster to hang on the wall.

Story:

            I have an affinity for end of the world tales.  I’m not sure why, but I feel like the apocalypse shows the extreme side of people (not Extreme, like no feet and shoulder pads, the other kind).  Seeing how someone reacts to something that is so over the top like zombies or nuclear winter or whatever a writer can dream up is more interesting to me than seeing something that I 100% know cannot happen (like superheroes for example).  Maybe this is why I like Think Tank so much, because the more real and plausible it is, the more interesting to me it becomes, hence my preference of nonfiction books. 

           

            Regardless, Bram and Ben takes something done to death like the apocalypse, and looks at it from more of a religious/spiritual side.  Sure, we have seen that before but mainly as the Angels vs. Demons super fight book type thing.  This book introduces more of a human element into all of that.  The premise of the story is simple, and is recapped nicely on the inside front cover.  Basically, it’s the end of the world, and people are taken to heaven in kind of a rapture-esque move.  Bram is taken with them, except his is done accidentally, a “clerical error”.  Instead of keeping him there, heaven sends Bram back to earth.  Bram now has this knowledge of what is going on, and apparently where he is going to end up one day (hint: it’s really really warm) and he promptly labels himself the antichrist.  Who doesn’t have a friend that would do that? 

            From reading the second issue, Bram’s roommate Ben doesn’t strike me as particularly religious, but he still doesn’t feel comfortable mixing it up with the whole devils and antichrist thing that Bram has got going on.  In this issue, Ben is visited by the angel of a work acquaintance that not only shows Ben what is in store in Bram takes everyone to hell with him, but also tries to kick the ass of an apparently minor demon that is fueling the Bram for antichrist campaign machine.

            This is a clever and interesting take on the end of days.  While most entertainment mediums pick up the story after the apocalypse has happened, Bram and Ben is apparently going to take us right up through it.  One thing that bothers me about the story though, from what I can gather, those that were going to escape hell, were already taken to heaven, meaning everyone else was doomed.  The angel tells Ben that this is the time for the Earth to choose whether it wants to be good or bad, to join everyone else in heaven or rot in hell.  However, you took the best of the bunch away, effectively killing all of those guaranteed admittance to heaven, then without telling anyone, you are judging the world’s reaction when they only have one side of the story (Bram’s).  Kind of a dick move, heaven.  Not only that, but by taking away the cream of the crop, you are effectively lowering the collective quality of the remaining crop, reducing the likelihood of them doing the right thing and paving their way to heaven.  And let’s not forget, in order to reach either heaven or hell, you’re dead, so the end game isn’t super either way.  It feels a little like writers James Asmus and Jim Festante either didn’t flesh that part out, or are purposefully withholding information from us.  Either way, I am mildly ok with it right now given that we are at issue two of four, but if that isn’t explained by the end of the miniseries it will be seen as a misstep in their writing. 

7/10 – A fresh twist on a worn concept could yield some great things if the writers pull it together over the final two issues.

Art:

            This is where I could see a comparison to Chew being formulated.  Unfortunately, like I was talking about earlier with bands, the copycats are not as good as the original (except in the case of Nickelback where the original is no good either).  It’s not that the art by Rem Broo is not good, because it is, I do like it.  There are certain parts in it where the art looks more like animation pencils that are full of extra, nonsensical lines that are usually taken care of during the inking process.  Here, many of those lines are left in as if they were part of the final illustration.  This is not hatching, cross-hatching or any other kind of technique I’m familiar with, and it can become distracting in places. 

            The storytelling is ok in the talking head parts, but when it gets to any action sequences it starts to get a little weird with a little too much camera-flipping.  The characters are relatively consistent, especially Bram and Ben, but the others stray a bit consistency-wise, not enough to make us think that it is someone else completely, but enough for me to notice.  There are a few pages where there is so much packed into them that it gets hard to differentiate one thing from another and between the sketchiness of the linework and the fact that the coloring is not helping to separate objects, it becomes a mess.

You can see all of the little "extra" lines here and there on the figures and backgrounds.

There are a couple good one-liners here, but this is probably the best joke.  During the angel vs. demon fight, the angel throws his halo at the demon, presumably to cut him.  This is what happens instead. 

5/10 – It’s ok, but it definitely has room to grow. 

Overall: 6/10 – A decent book with an interesting premise which can hopefully tie things together before the series conclusion.

Comic Review: Hell Yeah #6

            As a general rule of thumb, I like to stay away from comics that have vulgarity in their title (not that hell is really vulgar, but it’s not something you can say in school – and don’t say “what about Hellboy?” that’s different).  I see that as shock value to sell a comic and really don’t want a part of it (see Kick Ass).  Unfortunately pickings were slim this week.  The only other comics I picked up were Mars Attacks Transformers (which was awesome) and Borderlands Origins #3 (which was boring and uninspired, much like the rest of the series).  So I had to pick something up, and I settled for Hell Yeah.  I figured it would either be shock value schlock and I would get to eviscerate it, or it would be a comic adaptation of the metal band Hell Yeah (I kind of doubted the latter, but you never know).

Cover:

            The cover is actually really well done.  The stark white of the logo really pops from the dark background and the fact that the logo is partially obscured just helps to reinforce its proper placement.  I love the texture and the painted look to the cover as well.  While it may look kind of generic at first, a superhero (I’m assuming) with his face bloodied, it is actually taken from a part of the book.  If nothing else it gets me to wonder what bloodied his face, and what kind of superhero this guy is if he’s knocked out with a (probably) broken nose.  That’s the main job of the cover right?  To make you want to look inside?  Mission accomplished Ricken (the artist), well done.  The fact that it also includes text, and not those stupid banners for the next Warner Brothers movie, or telling you about the upcoming Marvel event, that stands out without being obtrusive shows a nice understanding of design. 

8/10 – Good linework complemented nicely by a painterly technique on the colors makes for a beautiful piece of work to look at.  It actually makes for a great cover too because of the additions of the text in a way that completes the piece instead of detracting from it.

Story:

            The recap page said that the pertinent information from the first story arc would be revealed within this issue.  I obviously didn’t read the previous five issues so I am not sure if that is 100% true or not, but this issue does a decent job of recapping who the main character is and what he does.  It honestly feels like a first issue instead of issue six, which is a great thing in terms of storytelling in my opinion because this was MY first issue, and I am firmly in the mindset that every issue is someone’s first.  How writer Joe Keatinge handles the second or third chapter in this story arc would probably tell more about his writing style in that respect than this first issue though.  While this issue does a decent job of setting things up for further issues down the line, it just feels pretty boring on its own.  Even the fight toward the end of the issue is kind of quick and boring.  I understand the necessity of the setup, even the slow burn in this story arc centric comic book landscape, but each issue should be entertaining enough to make you want to continue to read the series. 

            This story provides the making of a decent mystery, but really there isn’t much that will keep me coming back for more.  Believe me, the concept is interesting, the clean up guy that comes in after the “real” superheroes duke it out to take care of any extraneous messes.  I like that; it’s a fresh take on the genre that is probably better in trade than in individual issues.  The best part is that it doesn’t fall into the same Kick Ass style rut of sensationalizing anything or creating big moments for the sake of creating big moments.  In fact, aside from one naked woman, this book goes the other way.  Not a lot of big drama, not a lot of sensationalism.  It just kind of…is.  I have a feeling it will ramp things up in subsequent issues, probably as soon as issue seven, but it has not reeled me in effectively enough that I want to see where this goes. 

3/10 – As I said.  The groundwork is there for something very interesting and entertaining, but it definitely seems like the kind of story that you need to read in trade as the first issue doesn’t really have anything to pull me in.  Sure it escalates the mystery and leaves me with questions I would like answered by the end, but it was honestly a struggle to get there and I almost put the book down multiple times before that because it was pretty boring.

Art:

            Much like the story, the art by Andre Szymanowicz seems devoid of action.  That’s not to say that there aren’t action sequences, just that everything is so flat and stiff, especially in the first half of the book.  The best way to balance out pages and pages of not much going on would be for the artwork to be stellar.  I’m not saying that you would need a superstar to carry a painfully slow script (though it has worked from Brian Bendis) but something that would keep me turning the pages would definitely help.  The backgrounds are nice but the figures are not only stiff but have some wonky anatomy as well. 

That arm looks a little funny to me, and it gets worse in the big panel on that page but I can't show that because of the boobie-factor. 

This is more for the text than the art. "Working for you guys for about a while now" looks like someone forgot to proofread.

I like the robot lady character design but the way she is hitting him with the hammer in the last panel doesn't come off as really realistic both in terms of how she's holding the hammer and how her body is positioned.

This whole page is one big example of the static, boring character poses that are an epidemic in this book.  Plus the text boxes look like they have been thrown in there as an afterthought.

3/10 – Unfortunately the quality of the interiors don’t live up to the cover. 

Overall:  4/10 – I have higher hopes for the story than I do for the art, but it is still something that I would only approach in a trade paperback format.  Even then, throwing $15-$20 down for it may be a little too much based on what I’ve seen so far.

            Through all this, I am still left wondering why it is called Hell Yeah.  Seriously.  There is nothing in it that would explain the title in the least.  Being vague is one thing but having a title that doesn’t appear to mean anything is another matter entirely.  If anyone knows, or if it was revealed in the first story arc let me know, I’m genuinely curious.

Comic Review – Todd The Ugliest Kid on Earth #1

            I have to admit, I was originally stumped about what to review this week.  Nothing really jumped out at me.  Sure, I could have reviewed the newest Transformers: Spotlight which actually gave a decent amount of depth to Thundercracker and made him seem like more than just a Starscream repaint for the first time that I can recall, plus it had the insecticons which was pretty cool to see.  It wasn’t until a few hours before I went to my local comic shop that I stumbled upon a short preview for Todd The Ugliest Kid on Earth #1, and I knew that I had found what I was looking for.  Not only was I intrigued by the writing on the few pages provided, but the art was outstanding.  Thank you internet for making up my mind for me.

Cover:

            Hey, the interior artist drew the cover!  And it has something to do with the guts of the book (even though you don’t realize that until the end)!  That’s already a win in my book.  The fact that artist M.K. Perker takes something as simple as a police lineup and interjects so much personality into it makes it really stand out to me.  This isn’t just the simple “four guys standing in a row” that you may be used to seeing.  Instead, we get a bevy of colorful characters all completely armed (yes, suspend your belief on that one) and looking fairly menacing, and in the middle of it all is Todd.  Looking small and unassuming, hell he has to stand on a stool to even be noticed in the shot, waving to us as if to say “Hi! You’ll enjoy my book, I promise.”  Todd was not wrong and that all starts with a quality cover.

            The only qualms I have about the cover is the darkness and the fact that it is fairly brown all the way through.  This made it blend in quite a bit to everything else on the shelf, and I honestly almost missed picking it up.  The logo is brown as well and does not stand out at all.  This is unfortunate as a great illustration was transformed into an ineffective cover because of a few easily fixable choices.

7/10 – I love the illustration itself but as a cover it doesn’t pop, nor is the logo plainly visible.  I have a feeling that this will be remedied in subsequent issues, at least I hope so.

Story:

            First things first, I have to give a nod to Perker and writer Ken Kristensen for the informative and hilarious intro page that gives you a rundown of the various characters in the book.  Even a (seemingly) minor supporting character like Mr. Finger, the blind pet shop owner, gets his own entry.  His is probably my favorite, stating that he only sells blind pets but he doesn’t know that, because he is blind himself.  Classic.

            The story itself is well crafted, making sure that what happens in the first few pages has an impact on the rest of the issue, and most likely the rest of the series.  Todd is a lovable loser, pretty blissfully ignorant of the fact that he is the victim of severe bullying.  Or, if he’s not ignorant to it, it really doesn’t phase him.  He has a condition that makes him apparently so ugly that he is forced to wear a paper bag on his head to spare the rest of us the horror, which if you have ever been a kid before (it’s pretty safe to say at least half of you have) you know that anything that makes you stand out is a bullseye for bullies.  This can lead to a solitary life for young Todd, and it leads to us as the reader feeling sorry for him, especially in light of the fact that both of his parents are horrible people as well.  Kristensen does a great job of making these people accurate representations of people we may know, while also upping the ante so that we know that they are caricatures. 

            The saddest part of the book is when Todd is confronted by the homicidal maniac that has been murdering kids.  This guy refuses to murder Todd because he only kills “beautiful children”.  While we can see this as a win for Todd in that his condition has finally proved to be a positive for him, it is also pretty terrible that he is deemed too ugly for even a serial murderer to finish him off.  Of course this leads to Todd being accused of being the murderer by possibly the dumbest detective I have ever seen.  I won’t give the whole thing away but it has to do with a couple sticky dolls that are introduced in the first few pages.  This is something you never expect to come back and be a major factor, but it most definitely is.  The end of the book is Todd being hauled off to jail , so we’ll see where this goes.

7/10 – You have to suspend belief for quite a few things here, but it really doesn’t effect the quality of the story or the enjoyment of it.  Kristensen has created an immediately sympathetic character and plays upon his innocence and naïveté to a T.

Art:

            There is a certain detail to Perker’s art and certain level of authenticity that bellies its cartoony nature.  I love the way the people are stretched and distorted as if they were caricatures, but they are so believable as people at the same time.  It’s as if the simplicity of Calvin & Hobbs was combined with a theme park caricaturist and lightly seasoned with a slight dash of Arthur Adams’ detail work.  I love it.  The humor in the art matches the humor in the story perfectly and the way that Perker draws Todd just adds to that aura of simplicity and relative contentedness that seems to hover over him, like a personal sun beam in a rainstorm instead of the other way around that is so often depicted.  The interesting part about this is the way Perker draws everyone, no one is a super model, nor are they even that attractive to look at.  So does that make Todd, incredibly ugly if he has to hide his face from regular ugly people, or is he actually a cute kid that, when ugly is the norm, is considered out of place?  Maybe I’m reading too much into it.

            I can’t speak about the art without giving a special nod to colorist Cemal Soyleyen.  This is probably the best colored, most complete art job I have ever seen on a comic that is not strictly painted.  The marriage between the linework and the color is incredible and not often seen unless it is all done by the same person.  Perker leaves just enough space and room for Soyleyen to embellish where needed while still making sure that the black and white artwork is not dependent upon its color counterpart.  This is a comic that could easily work as black and white but with someone like Soyleyen being not just a competent colorist but a downright superstar in the making, it makes it that much better.

The next three panels are some of the best one-liners I have read in a comic in a while.  This shows that not only has Kristensen crafted a good story, but he has peppered it with funny, and believable dialogue.

Note: he is asking the guy that was just about to kill him if he wants to be friends.  That's how tragic of a hero Todd is.

I just love the art in this panel and the way it shows how simple of a character Todd really is.

            The only thing that kind of bugs me is some of the lettering choices made here.  The balloons feel a little too large at times and the instances where they are trimmed just does not make sense.  Instead of just leaving the whole balloon, sides are lopped off and where you would think there was pertinent info, therefore necessitating the trim, there is nothing of the sort.  It’s kind of odd and stunts the flow of the comic as you are faced with a hard, flat vertical line out of the blue.

This is here for two reasons: one, to illustrate the word balloon cutoffs and two, because that top panel is great.  The inking and characterization on the people are both top notch.

9/10 – I can’t stay mad at you Todd.  This is some of the best art I have seen on a comic in a long time.  The absolute right balance of reality and distortion to create the perfect blend for a comic in general and especially one with a silly, but fun premise.

Overall: 8/10 – I would highly recommend this book for anyone that likes great art and a fun (and funny) story.  It reminds me of Chew, with kids and slightly less off the wall.