Scruffy Fiction

Graphic Novel Review: Pigs Volume One: Hello, Cruel World by Nate Cosby, Ben McCool and Breno Tamura

Pigs starts with a simple premise, In 1962 a KGB sleeper cell is placed in Cuba. Years later the children of these agents are activated with orders to bring down the US government. From here a complex and deeply layered story begins. The story is told in a non-linear fashion, jumping between three time periods – Now, Soon and Earlier. This is a very effective way to structure the plot, as more details are revealed in each time period our view of these characters and their motivations is constantly changing. I like being kept off balance in this way, there were a few moments that were genuinely surprising.

The most relate-able of the characters is Felix. When we meet him he is a happily married family man living in Miami. When the other members of the group arrive to tell him he has been activated he is drawn back into a war he wants nothing to do with. In the earlier time period we see Felix’s childhood and training. At this point he appears to be the most violent and dedicated member of the group raising the question, what happened in the time in-between that changed him so much? Felix is a complicated character who has clearly done a lot of nasty things in his life but in the middle of a group of terrorists he is actually someone that we can root for and I think that that is very important to the success of the book. At this point we don’t know a lot about the other characters, just a few brief details that leave me very interested to learn more.

Breno Tamura has quite a rough art style which really suits the subject matter of this comic. With the story covering multiple time periods it would be very easy for the reader to get lost or confused. This never happens though as Tamura’s fluid storytelling guides us through clearly with no confusion. At times the writing is quite sparse, relying heavily on the artwork to tell the story and again Tamura handles this very well. I should also mention that this series has a very striking set of covers by Jock, Francesco Francavilla, Amanda Conner and Becky Cloonan. You really couldn’t ask for a better set of cover artists.

There are only four issues in this collection and by the end I really wanted more, but I like that Image is getting the first volume out quickly and cheaply. This is a really great first volume in a series, it had me immediately engaged and asking lots of questions. There is plenty of story potential here and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Graphic Novel Review: The Li’l Depressed Boy Vol 1 – She is Staggering by S. Steven Struble and Sina Grace

Li’l depressed boy (LDB) lives a lonely life reading books and playing computer games. He decides to stop feeling sorry for himself and get out of the house, that’s when he meets “Weird Girl”. She takes him out in to the world and his life begins to change.

The set up may feel a little familiar, blending elements of lots of other stories but the execution is completely unique. It’s sweet, funny and sometimes silly but any time it threatens to get too much we are given a moment of real heartfelt honesty. These moments are dealt with very subtly which only makes them more effective. In fact the writing as a whole is very subtle. S. Steven Struble uses very little dialogue instead letting the artwork speak for itself and leaving plenty of room for each moment to resonate with the reader.

Sina Grace’s artwork is very well designed, falling halfway between cartoony and realistic. He draws clothing particularly well. Each outfit is well thought out and really looks like something that people wear. The most interesting artistic choice made here is to portray LDB as a rag doll with fabric skin. This really sets him apart from the rest of the world and establishes him as an outsider. Also his simple but expressive facial features really heighten the emotion of every scene.

I really enjoyed The Li’l Depressed Boy, it’s one of the most unique and purely enjoyable comics that I’ve read for a while.

Graphic Novel Review: Mid-Life by Joe Ollmann

If you’ve read more than a couple of autobiographical comics or seen any Woody Allen movies the plot of Mid-Life will seem quite familiar to you. 40 year old John is having a mid-life crisis. He’s just become a father again with his young second wife, he doesn’t have a great relationship with his first two daughters and he is becoming irrelevant at work. As his problems multiply he feels sorry for himself and starts looking at younger women thinking he might be happier with them. This kind of story has been told lots of times many different ways so it’s surprising that Joe Ollmann manages to make it seem new and interesting.

He has a unique voice with quite a dark sense of humour. John’s world is populated with quirky and believable characters that are fleshed out very well within a short space of time. Although his writing is dense with a heavy use of narration the story moves along quite quickly with short chapters moving us from scene to scene. Part of the story is told from the perspective of Sherry, a children’s entertainer who John becomes infatuated with. She is at a similar point in her life and seems to have just as many problems as John. The biggest thing that separates Mid-Life from other comics of this type is Sherry’s story. It’s interesting to see a similar set of issues from a female perspective.

Ollmann has a rough art style that uses lots of thick lines and heavy shading. It’s also extremely detailed which can sometimes make for uncomfortable scenes. The size of his characters heads is slightly exaggerated with some of the most expressive faces I’ve seen in comics. My only real complaint is the lettering which is a bit too rough. Sometimes too many words are squeezed in to captions which are too small. The inconsistency does make the comic seen more personal which I like but it is sometimes hard to read.

That one small criticism aside though I thought Mid-Life was excellent. Joe Ollmann gave a unique perspective on a well-worn story and added enough personality to make me forget that the plot is quite familiar.

Graphic Novel Review: Astronaut Academy – Zero Gravity by Dave Roman

Hakata Soy is a young former space hero just starting out at the space based Astronaut Academy. Starting with this simple premise we are introduced to a large cast of characters and many inter-weaving plot lines. The book is made up of lots of short stories told from alternating perspectives all of which are connected to tell a larger story. Because of the structure of the book I found it best to be read in short bursts rather than straight through.

Astronaut Academy is very funny. I often find comedy in comics to be more humorous than genuinely funny but I found myself frequently laughing out loud while reading this. It’s an all-ages book so the humour is very silly which I suppose is part of the fun. It pokes fun at all kinds of science fiction including time travel, superheroes and anime. Packed full of jokes there’s plenty here for both adults and children to enjoy. It really reminded me how much fun all-ages comics can be.

Graphic Novel Review: Pluto Volume 1 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka

Pluto is set in a future where robots and humans peacefully coexist. When a popular robot is murdered detective Gesicht is assigned to investigate the case. Being the first volume of a series Urasawa chooses to tell his story quite slowly. This isn’t a fast moving plot instead we are slowly introduced to the world of Pluto.

I found this vision of the future to be quite interesting. Unlike most science fiction stories the robots here often appear to be considered equal to humans. After the robot Mont Blanc is killed at the start of the book ordinary people are genuinely devastated by his death. We get to see the home life of robots, they live ordinary lives with robot wives and children. There is also a subplot about an ex-military robot becoming a butler to a blind composer because he wants to learn to play the piano. I actually found this part of the story quite moving and felt just as much for the robot as I did for the composer.

I really liked the art style Urasawa uses. It’s very realistic but still has some of that uniquely manga look to it. The buildings and technology were particularly impressive in their detail. Urasawa wisely takes a minimalist approach to the dialogue instead letting his art tell the story. His storytelling is good enough that this works very well.

I’m pretty new to manga but I found this to be very accessible and a good place to start for anyone looking to try out manga for the first time. I don’t know much about the original Astro Boy series that this is based on so the reveal on the final page was lost on me until I read some of the extra material in the back but that didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book at all. I look forward to reading the next one.

Graphic Novel Review: Empire State: A Love Story (Or Not) by Jason Shiga

Empire State is a coming of age story about a guy named Jimmy who has led a very sheltered life. When his best friend Sara leaves to live in New York Jimmy decides to take a cross country road trip to tell her that he loves her, an idea he got from watching romantic comedies.

Jimmy is a very sweet and likeable character because he is so naïve. He has never left his home state so his view of the world mostly comes from TV shows and movies. It’s both funny and sad watching him confess that he doesn’t know what a latte is or finding out that Star Wars is a well-known movie.

Jason Shiga uses a very cartoony art style which helps give the bittersweet story a softer edge. It seems quite simplistic but it’s the kind of art that is better designed than you initially think it is. He also alternates between colouring the art entirely in red and blue to differentiate between time periods which also establishes a different mood for past and present.

The story is a little predictable; it’s the same kind of plot you find in a lot of autobiographical comics. But it’s the character of Jimmy which really sets it apart. His wide eyed wonder of everyday things makes this a very charming and enjoyable story.

Graphic Novel Review: Ursula by Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba

Ursula is a modern day fairytale romance and is some of the earliest work from Brazilian twins Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba. Miro is a young prince who meets his soul mate Ursula when they are both children. Years later as an adult he sets out to reconnect with her, a search which leads into Ursula’s subconscious.

There are three distinct art styles used here all very different from the twins more recent work. Miro’s childhood is illustrated in quite a simple style with caricature type figures. Adult life has a much more moody, realistic look to it and reminds me more of Eduardo Risso’s work with thick inking and heavy use of shadow. Finally Ursula’s subconscious has a cartoony look with magical characters such as a talking bird and a dragon who wears big square rimmed glasses. The skilful artwork carries the story along even when the story’s not making a lot of sense.

As you might expect with a story dealing with the subconscious things can get a bit too metaphysical at times with too much talk of the nature of life and love. The ending is very vague which was probably supposed to be cleaver but just comes off as confusing. It’s a very sweet and likeable story though and there’s a lot of fun to be had along the way.

While their storytelling isn’t as sophisticated as more recent work like Daytripper, Moon and Ba’s artwork and ideas show a lot of promise here and it’s easy to see how they became so successful later on.