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STRIP SEARCH TPB
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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Dark Horse Comics
"Alcoholism Spaceman"
Writer/Artist: Ben Stenbeck
"The Mighty Skullboy Army"
Writer/Artist: Jacob R. Chabot
"Ordinary Romance"
Writer/Artist: Emily J. Mann
"Haunted Cipher"
Writer/Artist: Eric Haven
"The Stalker & The Stag"
Writer/Artists: Corran J. Brownlee & R. Arran Brownlee
"Stop Light"
Writer/Artist: Jeff Kilpatrick
"This Savage Day"
Writer/Artist: George Pfromm II
"Tic Tac Machete"
Writer/Artist: Brian W. McLachlan
"Sweet Tooth"
Writer/Artist: Paul E. Harmon
"Rites of Spring"
Writer/Artist: Steve Morris
"Insomnia"
Writer/Artist: Nir Paniry
"The Seneschal"
Writer/Artist: Thomas V. Scioli
"Biomek"
Writer/Artist: Inaki Gonzalez Holgado
"TV Violence"
Writer/Artist: Niklas Asker
"You, Robot"
Writer/Artist: Nicholas G. Perks
"Eye of the Beholder"
Writer/Artists: Jeff McClelland & Ruben D. Cordero, Jr.
"Amitosis"
Writer/Artist: Hector Sevilla
"Tangerine"
Writer/Artist: Ron J. Wimberly
Editor: Adam Gallardo
Price: $14.95 US |
If you are a fan of comic-book art, ignore the rating on this review and pick up Strip Search. Because without exception, the artwork on these strips is good, and in many cases downright great. I'll be surprised if we don't see a fair amount of these artists doing projects in comics, because the level of craft, in terms of artwork, is very impressive. Unfortunately, the stories are for the most part pretty disappointing. This owes something to the strip format that was the original format, which has pretty significant limitations, but there's also a sort of artsy weirdness that puts me off most of the stories, making me feel like I'm reading little more than a pitch for stories rather than actual stories. There are exceptions, including the delightfully demented Tic Tac Machete, Skullboy and Haunted Cipher, but overall what I got out of this was a very pretty book, but one whose stories didn't really grab me.
Strip Search has a mixture of black and white and color strips, and I'm impressed to note that these artists all made such a perfect choice of which type of art would best serve their style. It's all too easy when you're working without the budgetary restrictions of print to go with color, but some of these artists have a style that really looks great in black and white. Which is not to say that the color strips went unappreciated; Ben Stenbeck's "Alcoholism Spaceman" is gorgeous, and the vivid colors are a big part of that, the dark brown and deep blue of "The Stalker and the Stag" work very well with the photorealistic artwork and I love the cel-shaded look of "Eye of the Beholder" as well. I was just as pleased with the one-color approach of Niklas Asker's "TV Violence" and George Pfromm's "This Savage Day."
As I noted above, Strip Search is a treat for the comic-book art lover. There's a wide variety of styles, from realistic to cartoony to indie strange to Kirby riff, and it is all terrific stuff. Particular standouts for me included the detailed bizarre look of the aforementioned "Alcoholism Spaceman," the dead-on homages of Eric Haven's "Haunted Cipher," Paul Harmon's inky and strange "Sweet Tooth," the exaggerated perspectives and stretched anatomies of Nir Paniry's "Insomnia" and the haunting work of Hector Sevilla on "Amitosis." With the exception of "Haunted Cipher," I wasn't all that crazy about most of the stories that accompanied this artwork, most of which never really seemed to have the room to expand upon their concept or never got beyond high concept weirdness into plots or characters, but the art was a treat.
Though I mostly enjoyed this book for the artwork, however, there were a few strips that I really enjoyed. "The Mighty Skullboy Army" by Jacob Chabot combines a sort of surreal set of characters with a more linear story about school and some simple but perfectly detailed artwork into a very funny strip that I'd like to see more of. "Haunted Cipher" makes great use of the one-page format to create hilarious chapter breaks for the various strips, using one weird idea after another for a quick, in and out gag that rarely fails to elicit a laugh. And "Tic Tac Machete" is a strip that I first read on Oni Press's Sunday Comics, but which I was pleased to see here as well, given its deliberately bizarre riff on pulp stories and strange almost nonsense dialogue. I also greatly enjoyed Niklas Asker's "TV Violence," which does have a bit of a thin story but which has a very effective look, including insanely believable human faces and realistic, detailed backgrounds.
Strip Search is a flawed work, and even though it's culled from a larger group of artists who "tried out" on Dark Horse's website, there's still a feeling that many of these creators have some development time ahead of them, particularly when it comes to the writing side of things. However, there's no lack of talent in these pages, and Dark Horse should be commended for giving a voice to artists of the future, as well as for finding such a spectacular array of artistic talent.
This comic book was not among this week's new releases.
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