Writer/Artist: Kyle Strahm
Publisher: Ambrosia Publishing
I’m of two minds on this book at first glance.
The left side of my brain tells me that if the onomatopoeia word “toc” appears more than any actual dialogue in any book, it has some serious issues with plot and direction.
The right side of my brain says this is how you use negative space. This is how you paint a world I have never seen. This is how you introduce a concept what was never even on my radar, let alone close to my comprehension.
In the world with which we are presented, townsfolk and chickens have been disappearing left and right. Over a period of time, people get very worried and scared of their own shadow. Something tells me those sentences were in the original proposal that was sold to the indie Ambrosia label, and Strahm had to at least chuckle to himself as he typed, “These people will think I’m insane.”
Enter the snake oil salesman Baron Von Salt. He has seen the creature that preys upon the town, and he alone has the weapon that can destroy it. A weapon, which happens to look like a Tommy gun, he claims to have snatched from the future. Why Von Salt doesn’t next say the words, “for a small price,” I’ll never understand.
Once the Baron has gathered his hunting party and arrive at the windmill, which the machine monster inhabits, they learn the missing bumpkins and fowl are indeed very much alive. Not only that, but they appear to be happy staying with the gruesome creature. In a flash of anger and fury, the Baron let’s his weapon from the future erupt with hot metal, angering the creature to the point where nearly everyone in the room are slaughtered by the “Cog-Doom” creature.
It is then you realize it didn’t want to kill anyone. I’m sure being a machine; it never really needed to feed at all. It just wanted companionship. When that is ripped from him, the machine merely surveys the carnage wrought about by his own gears and traipses off into the sunset.
When I read this book, I was astonished by Strahm’s ability to tell a story with his pictures. The style and feel reminded me of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. The aforementioned negative space drawing is portrayed in a very creepy and unique manner. Not to say the style is unique, as there are many books out now that utilizes this inking style. What makes these pages look unique to me is how everything is fluid and free flowing. The only right angles are the panel borders. I have said many times that I’m no art critic, but when I see something good I just know it.
I’m not here to criticize the plot and story at all either. Granted, its decontructionism at it’s finest, but these are the times we live in. That said, this particular issue could have been told in the more typical 22-page format, yet this book was over twice that length at 50 pages. Add into that the $6.99 price tag being more than twice the normal price, and this book will have some serious obstacles being sold well. Sure it’s art, but I could do many unspeakable things on paper and call it the same thing.
I think a rating of this book should say to people, “Go get it, but only if you have room in your list and money to burn.” It’s a foray into the weird and fantastic, but it lacked in dialogue and plot. Any of you who read this book please email me, I’m dying to know what others think.
What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!