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TROUT #1
"The Insideous Erasermus"
Recommended (8/10)
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Oni Press
Writer/Artist: Troy Nixey
Letters: John Dranski
Editor: James Lucas Jones
Price: $2.95 US/$4.50 CAN |
Reading this
book was not unlike watching a film written by David Lynch and directed by Tim
Burton. Which is to say, it was quite odd and I'm not entirely certain what is
going on, but it was visually compelling and strangely fascinating. Nixey has
specialized so far in this sort of fictional version of Victorian times,
combined with a Lovecraftian style of horror, and this is another fine example
of that sort of thing. This first issue is mostly about establishing characters,
mood and the basic conflict, and things are now set up for an unusual and
interesting story to unfold.
Trout is not, despite it's title, about fish. Instead,
Trout refers to a very strange little boy who lives secretly above a Turnip
factory, fed and cared for by the owner. He seems to be introverted rather than
being kept as a secret by the factory owner, who wants him to get out and play
with other children and basically be a little more normal, it seems. Which leads
them to a bizarre puppet show come to town that hides a secret of its own.
Nixey's visual style is
unusual and beautiful, born for Cthulhu stories or steampunk or basically
anything that uses big weird technology and biology, and he's playing to his
strengths here. The puppet show of Erasermus and their strange little driver is
creepy and unusual, with some truly horrific scenes near the end. The Turnip
Works and indeed the entire town of Lower Upton are vividly realized, with large
and bulky machinery, detailed houses and elaborate fashions. I also greatly
enjoyed his designs for Mr. Lint and Trout, as both have a lot of character
without any dialogue simply from seeing what they look like.
What surprised me, however, given that I've sometimes had difficulty following Nixey's stories such as Jenny Finn, was how much I enjoyed the writing as well.
The basic relationships are fairly simple and easy to figure out, and although
I'm not sure what Erasermus is and what he/she/it is up to in detail, the gist
of the action is very clear and serves as a nice setup for a confrontation
between a painfully shy young boy and some kind of ultimate evil.
Yes, you read that last part right. This is not your average comic or your average story, and it is tinged with more than a little weirdness, from art to writing to lettering. That's a blessing, not a curse, though, as it gives the book an interesting feel, right in line with something like Hellboy or some of the work of Paul Pope. Creepy and intriguing, Trout is
an unusual project from an unusual talent.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
