This column aims to cover the comics other columns and reviewers won't touch. I specialize in reviewing small press, independent and self-published comics. If you're having trouble getting your comic reviewed then your best bet is to send it to me.
Anyway, this month I have an anthology trade sized comic called Job Wanted.
Job Wanted
Concept:
“Job Wanted” is a well-presented anthology trade-sized comic produced by a company of independents who are collectively known as Fanzing. There is a short introductory comic which attempts and fails to explain the purpose of this book, which I will ignore (I can't stand surreally presented self-congratulation) and then its into the full-on stories themselves.
There are 7 major stories here; these are: Gone To Texas: Rogue; The Slime; Night Route; Enigma in Outer Space; Beekeeper; Devil in the Playbox and Villains Inc.
Each of these stories has the loose theme of "interesting" jobs and some of them pull this off really well.
But, I will cover each of the tales separately.
Gone To Texas: Rogue
To be honest, I had grave doubts about this one. Ok, the art is gorgeous, the story seems ill conceived (it’s about a man who catches a rogue horse, for fuck’s sake!) and the writing ranges from quite poor to incomprehensible.
Although, I cannot fault the presentation at all, in fact, the artwork is seriously nice, I feel it is a little too difficult to work out what is going on and with a story as boring as this one it is difficult to motivate yourself to even make the attempt.
Stop to admire the lovely pencil and ink work, and then move on to...
The Slime
A lot less to admire in terms of artwork. That's not to say the art is bad quality, it isn't at all, it's just a bit of a dip from the previous entry; however, the story redeems itself by having a really interesting story.
It starts by the character who is the focus of the work getting a job as cleaner, however, it rapidly becomes clear it is no ordinary cleaning assignment when he is forced to sign a "non-disclosure" contract.
Without revealing too much, the story is really well thought out with an interesting twist at the end.
The artwork is of good quality and is functional but it's not beautiful. I guess you can't have everything...
Night Route Driver:
Heavy black shadowing mark this noir piece. The art is back to being quite beautiful with some glorious indian ink work going on here in places, although it is not consistent and does have a couple of dodgy moments. Overall, in those terms it is good.
The storyline seems initially quite interesting, however, there appears to be a problem with execution of story ideas which make this piece hard work to understand in places for a first time reader.
I feel that if you are sometimes left wondering wtf is going on, then it is sign that the piece is not as well pulled together as it could and should be and sadly that is the state of affairs here.
Enigma in Outer Space:
I have to say I personally don't like the artwork style for this one but I still think it is really good. It is stylistic, functional and expressive but something about it rubs me up the wrong way.
That said the story is really gripping and well done. It has a good amount of twists and kept me pretty engrossed while reading this.
The writing also has a healthy dose of humour inherent, which lightens up the storyline considerably.
A remarkable piece.
Beekeeper:
With Beekeeper, the storyline is good, consistent and understandable, however, it feels like a bit of a let down when read after the previous piece, which was really well written and engrossing. If this piece was on its own, you would think that it is good but unfortunately, when taken in the context of this anthology it feels anticlimactic. At least in writing terms.
In artistic terms, the artwork is of good quality, particularly when the artist was drawing the "Yellow Jacket" - the hero of this piece. The artist is obviously comfortable drawing him, however, I think he occasionally rushes a frame in order to get to the next one because some of the imagery is not of the high standard that you know this artist is capable of.
Devil in the Playbox:
Now THIS, is a fantastic piece.
It is about a form of electronic exorcism that happens within a console game. It is loaded with original ideas and it is very well conceived. It is a really good take on the exorcism story, brought up to date and executed flawlessly.
The artwork is very swish, consistent and stylish. It reminds me a little of Zenith in general look and feel and it is really well done and easy to follow.
In my opinion, this is the best one of the whole lot and is well worth reading.
Evil Inc:
Cutesy artwork surrounds a brilliantly conceived idea that unfortunately doesn't go anywhere. It is done as an advertising piece for a company that supplies supervillains and arch-fiends with gadgets, henchmen and bases. It is a very well done parody of advertising and any media with a big boss bad guy-type fella, but I felt that more could have been made of the good ideas contained within.
As it is, it leaves you thinking "this is cool" but at the same time leaves you unsatisfied as it lacks a story to back up the ideas.
The artwork is cartoony, charismatic and precise. Despite the artworks cartoon based nature, it does not detract from the piece and I really liked that side of things.
I just felt that it could have been made into so much more...
Summing up:
One thing that is good about this anthology is its size. This really gives you something to get your teeth into when you read the tales contained within and, thankfully, these stories are all good in some respects and some are good in all respects.
In short this is a well presented, interesting and captivating book which contains a mix of comic styles and themes.
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