Gunplay #0

Gunplay #0, March 2008, Platinum Studios
writer: Jorge Vega
artist: Dominic Vivona
colorist: Nei Ruffino
letterer: Shawn DePasquale
“Penny Dreadful” story writer: Priest
“Penny Dreadful” story illustrator: Keith Mellon
editor: Dave Collins

Since the Jonah Hex trailer went live today, let's look at a western comic: Gunplay #0. This issue, featuring material that won the 2007 Comic Book Challenge, is an interesting zero issue offer, because it isn’t a prologue to an upcoming ongoing series; instead, Gunplay #0 is a preview edition that (presumably) reprints the first twenty-two pages of an eighty-eight page graphic novel. It’s a daring gamble, selling content that will be available again later, in its entirety to boot, yet, for only a dollar, readers have a chance to see if Gunplay is an investment they’d want to make in the first place. In an analogy suiting this issue’s story, it’s a high noon callout, and Gunplay is daring us to join it in the street in front of the saloon.

Ah, but if you were looking for happy-go-lucky western fare, Gunplay is not the book for you. Inside of just these twenty-two pages, the reader is faced with the bitter truths of slavery and racism, the merciless, hands-on violence of a pre-industrial age, and the perversion of religion. I can only wonder what the remaining sixty-six pages of this graphic novel have to offer. Despite its callousness, Gunplay #0 is an thought provoking reading experience, not to mention a steal at a measly ninety-nine cents, considering that the lead 22-pager is followed by the first three chapters of a short fiction western piece by Priest and Keith Mellon. Both stories boast the same crude themes and engrossing violence and offer a no-holds-barred insight into how wild the west really was.

Unfortunately, this issue did take a few liberties in its presentation that distracted me from its content. Namely, on the first page, our hero, a black Union soldier forced to roam the countryside with a supernatural gun, mutters something to himself, evidenced by a speech balloon with tiny lettering, probably a two-scale font. You can tell that it says something, so I strained my eyes to make it out, and read, “This font is so small we can’t make out what he’s saying.” Now, why even have the speech balloon if I’m going to feel like a fool squinting to read it, or, if what he mumbles is actually important to the story down the line, why not just imply speech with some traditional squiggly lines? This unnecessary blurring of the fourth wall took me out of the story before it’d begun, and only the shock value of the following pages’ violence sucked me back in. It was an unnecessary rollercoaster ride.

So, will I step out into the high noon sun for a showdown with the Gunplay graphic novel? Honestly, I don’t think so. I’m not familiar enough with the wild west genre to actually embrace it for what it really is -- a crude game of life and death in the shadow of our country’s developing moral compass. You’re more likely to see me cowering behind the swinging saloon doors, seeing who comes out standing. Yes, holding true to the analogy, I might just wait to read some reviews of the whole thing before I use this #0 to gauge my interest. Leave it to a comic book to give the call to draw.

Urban Monsters #1

Urban Monsters #1, February 2008, Image Comics
creator: Andrew Stroscher
writers: Will Wilson & Joanne Moore
artists: Tone Rodriguez & Rick Ross
colorist: Nei Ruffino
letterer: Bryan Senka
editor: Kristen Simon

Blogger's note: Entry for Saturday, March 1, 2008.

Bigfoot is in, baby. I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember, ever since the 1986 Childcraft Mysteries & Legends annual introduced me to the Sasquatchean lore when I was a kid. The thought of a creature that size eluding capture for so long appealed to my inner recluse, not to mention my blossoming sense of wonder for the fantastic and unknown. I suppose the mysteries of the real world were a gateway for me to embrace the more incredible tenants of science fiction and comic books.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. These recent years are well on their way to becoming comics’ Bigfoot Age, what with the big guy appearing in IDW’s 2005 Steve Niles/Rob Zombie/Richard Corben horror miniseries by the same name, to Viper Comics’ anthology Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch, to Image’s Proof and The Perhapnauts, and now, Urban Monsters. Fortunately, avoiding Sasquatch saturation (Sasquatchuration? I called it!), Bigfoot is only one of four players in this dark comedy, joining a fish man, a satyr (half man/half goat), and a zombie on a road trip to Hollywood for an open monster casting call. Talk about your unconventional buddy story.

The premise of Urban Monsters is actually quite enthralling and frankly I wonder why it hasn’t been done before (at least, it hasn’t to my knowledge). The pitch must have been easy enough: “Imagine a world where monsters and creatures of fantasy exist openly alongside mankind!” From there, tales of horror, social inadequacy, and prejudice naturally unfold, and Urban Monsters manages to weave these themes into a very charming first issue. Indeed, each of our freakish foursome boasts unique motivations that bring them together and push them toward the road to Hollywood, from the Fishman and the Goatman’s passion to act, to the zombie’s impromptu predicament against law enforcement, to Bigfoot’s . . . well, Biggie’s really just along for the ride. He’s actually quite a lady’s man. I wonder why.

The issue takes a peculiar turn in its final few pages, as if, after the characters and their motives were sufficiently introduced, the writers had more story they wanted to cram into these inaugural pages. An ill-paced punchline about the zombie’s past created a few moments of confusion for me until I realized that it was supposed to be funny, but the pratfallish flashback panel about his unwillingness to eat brains with his zombie fraternity wasn’t distinct enough for me (i.e. no coloring or border change to indicate a different moment in time) to realize that it wasn’t a part of the page’s mainstream sequence. Suddenly, our gang is abducted by an inbred batch of werewolves that want Bigfoot to help further their race. The life of a monster really ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Which is why I can understand their reclusiveness. If you the paparazzi invade Britney’s life, and consequently ours with her manic runs to Starbucks and the gas station, imagine how they would treat Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster! I mean, the few pictures of these phenomena that we actually have are published so often it’s a wonder Bigfoot hasn’t finally come forward just to collect the residuals. He must look at urban world and, compared to his native terrain, think, “Man, it’s a jungle out there.”