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CREEPS #1
Recommended (8/10)
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Image Comics
Writer: Dan Mishkin
Artist: Tom Mandrake
Colors: Frank M. Cuonzo
Letters: Thom Zahler
Price: $2.95 US |
It was wit Tom Mandrake's work with John Ostrander on the last Spectre series from DC Comics that I really came to appreciate his art. It was fun to see him return on Martian Manhunter, but that book never really clicked for me as well as the previous Ostrander/Mandrake collaboration. Fortunately, Creeps is right up Mandrake's alley, and Mishkin, in an impressive comics comeback, offers up some interesting characters and concepts.
The city used to be cleaner... until the Creeps came along. Call them what you will... mutants, freaks, even monsters. Weird people like Eyeball, Booger, Debs and Gelulite know that the city is indeed a dirtier place full of monsters, but not because of their presence. They know of the real monsters, of the corruption of the Genesys Corporation. They know their kind is being kidnapped and used by Genesys, and they aim to set things right.
Mishkin has developed some truly inventive and bizarre characters to serve as the heroes of this series. Their weird powers strike me as particularly creative, as do the weird but basically human personalities he's instilled in each of the Creeps. I think what really makes the book work, though, is that the Creeps aren't just great people with horrible exterior shells. There's a darkness to them as well, imbalances that promise to keep things interesting
The writer also does a great job of slowly introducing the reader to the core characters and the central plot while not laying the exposition on too thick. The dialogue isn't too stilted, and I found the scripting in the opening sequence to be particularly strong.
The real star of Creeps, though, is Mandrake's art. His characters designs are disturbing yet a little fun at the same time. He takes familiar freak ideas and makes them seem fresh. The level of detail, of texture, he gives them makes them seem unnervingly real, even though his style is highly exaggerated. Those who liked Mandrake's work on The Spectre are going to love the art he's created for Creeps.
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