Month: May 2005

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Finder #36

By Carla Speed McNeil
24 pages, black and white
Published by Lightspeed Press

In a serialized story, it’s understandable if a several-month gap between chapters leaves you a little perplexed when the next installment arrives. There are a few “once in a blue moon” series that have me pulling out all previous issues when a new issue hits the stands. Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder makes me do that, but for a very different reason. Each issue is a master of bringing you instantly into the story without confusion; you’ll want to re-read the entire story to date simply because you’re so entranced.

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Serenity Rose Vol. 1: Working Through the Negativity

By Aaron Alexovitch
144 pages, black and white
Published by Slave Labor Graphics

Everyone’s had those sort of days. You’re lying down on the couch, you’re tired enough that you can’t get up, but not so tired that you can actually fall asleep. In my case, I found myself fumbling around on the floor for that pile of review books that I’d absent-mindedly set down earlier in the day, and finally my fingers landed on a book: Serenity Rose Vol. 1: Working Through the Negativity. And you know? It was clearly meant to be. Like magic, or something.

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Owly: Just a Little Blue

By Andy Runton
128 pages, black and white
Published by Top Shelf Productions

Andy Runton’s Owly was one of my favorite books published last year; a rare example of a book that really was all ages, with something to offer anyone and everyone who read it. It was because of that I was so worried about his new book, Owly: Just a Little Blue. His debut was such a strong book that I couldn’t help but think to myself, “What if it just doesn’t live up to my high expectations?” Of course, the real question that I should have asked myself is, “Why did you even worry?”

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Mosquito

By Dan James
152 pages, red and white
Published by Top Shelf Productions

Horror is a tricky genre, one that I think the majority of people who attempt have yet to master. So much of horror is psychological, meant to stir the emotions of its audience into unease, fright, and absolute terror. Often, it’s hard to explain why something worked other than, “It just creeped me out.” Reading Dan James’s new comic Mosquito, it was somewhere around the halfway point that I realized my body was subconsciously tightening up more and more as I turned the pages. With horror, that’s a good thing.

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