Unless you fed the meter just prior to the local constabulary
noticing it had expired, this is the best quarter you'll
spend this month. This special issue 0 comes packed with
fifteen pages of story, a two page minicomic and eleven
pages of bonus art and background material.
The bulk of the book does a good job of setting up the
story to follow, a Disneyesque fable of rival scientists
and their offspring. The story begins in classic fairy tale
style, drawing a conflict between the biologist Dendrus
the Grafter and the mechanist The Tinkerer. The Clockwirk
Girl, built by The Tinkerer, and Huxley, a sort of Frankenstein
monster by way of Huck Finn, created by Dendrus the Grafter,
are the main characters arouund which the action will revolve.
The story is just enough of a prologue to whet the appetite
for what will happen next.
The art is a treat. My only real criticism
of it is that it reads a little too much like a story board,
making it look like an idea born for animation that is resorting
to the comic book format. It's reminiscent of the late lamented
Captain Jack in that way.
Is there any possibility that issue 0 can
be animated and posted to YouTube? It would make one heck
of a promotional gimmick.
I hope Grant Bond can continue on the book after one of
the major animation houses snatch him up, which they're
sure to do if they see his work. I'm lookin forward to seeing
him grow into the wider comics idiom in future issues. I'd
love to be able to look five years into the future to see
his work after he has fifty or more issues under his belt.
I think we can expect great things from him, which would
make this a real collectors item. No pressure, Grant.
