I grabbed this bad boy from the library after reading Ghostopolis. I really enjoyed Ghostopolis and was bummed Ratfist, TenNapel’s web comic, was ending soon (it is done now, but iw till be an actual book by next year), so I got my Doug TenNapel fix here. Great choice.
Art: 4 stars
As much as I enjoyed the art in Ghostopolis and Ratfist, Creature Tech in black and white was stunning. You can really see the strength in his inking. I adored his sketchy yet detailed and precise facial expressions. The cover is mostly acid green and black – quite striking and one of my preferred color palettes in grade school. So I was almost disappointed that it was black and white inside, but it only took a couple of pages for me to stand back and say, “Whoa. That is inking.” I may have drooled a little.
Story: 4 stars
Another great story from Doug TenNapel. The story is about a smart, kind-of douche guy who gets sent to some government facility hidden in a small middle-America town to work on deciphering/cataloging artifacts the government has found. Of course, things go wrong, but it is all just this other guy invested in the dark arts being another kind of douche.
The story worries a little on religion for a bit. It involves a well-known religious artifact, but the characters actually discussing religion seemed forced, like he felt it had to be there since the religious artifact was there. It was more just odd than off-putting or distracting. Simple side notes to the story.
Again, the main character isn’t the most likeable fella. But all the characters are interesting enough with both flaws and strengths, and the story is so wacky it is probably good that the characters, even the wacky characters, are fairly normal – except the one who brings about all the wackiness to start with. It is a nice balance. Yes, I think wacky is a nice, single description for this bizarre story.
I do wish he had gone into more detail about the love interest. I didn’t really understand the point of why she was there. I mean, I don’t think everything has to be explained and purposeful, but she had so much potential. I was really disappointed I didn’t get to learn more about her.
Overall: 4 stars
A liked this even better than Ghostopolis. The art was better, or at least more striking, and the story was more available to adults (less full-on kids’ jokes) and yet still fully accessible to your non-idiot kids. In a few years, I may have to go buy this. All this review writing has made me want to look through it again, but I had to return it to the library.
Abe also did a review here.
Abe also did a review here.
No comments:
Post a Comment