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ANCIENT JOE #1
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Dark Horse Comics/Maverick imprint
Writer/Artist: C. Scott Morse
Editor: Diana Schutz
Price: $3.50 US/$5.25 CAN |
Scott Morse is a comics writer/artist who tells unconventional stories with unconventional characters. His art is unconventional as well. Basically, I didn't know what to expect from Ancient Joe, save for the fact that it would be -- say it with me -- unconventional. It turns out it's a story of the supernatural told using dialogue that sounds quite natural. In other words, it's another fine project from Morse, though a shade on the pricy side.
Joe's wife has been dead for three months, and it would seem he has dealt with his grief. Something else is bothering him, though. He wants to know for sure his wife passed on to a better place, and since Joe is an immortal, he sets out to find out for sure. To that end, he asks for help from Benny, the son of an old friend of his and Ernest Hemingway's. Benny, who can access one level of Hell, agrees, but he asks for some unusual compensation.
Perhaps what struck me the most about this book was how accessible it is. Sure, Morse's other current limited series -- Magic Pickle from Oni Press -- is easy to get into, but Ancient Joe is more epic in tone, like his Soulwind series of books. Morse drops us in the middle of the story, yet it's easy to figure out what's going on. At the same time, he hints at other adventures that get the imagination going.
There's also a clarity in the art that I wasn't expecting. Soulwind boasted a dark, mysterious tone -- both in the script and the art -- but that's not the case here. Though the designs are unusual -- typical Morse -- there's still a strong sense of humanity to the characters, even the masked Joe.
My favorite aspect of the book is the script. The tone of the dialogue is thoroughly down-to-earth, transforming an unbelievable story into a something plausible and genuine. Those grounded words bring out the personalities of the two men, and one can't help but enjoy them and want to get to know them better.
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