UFOlogy #1, published by Boom! Studios, is a very cool comic with very cool people in charge of it. Here’s the thing, a lot of us are repulsed by an ultra-slick high end production number. We wish for something with a shaggy dog vibe. But, if you let that dog get too shaggy, that can be just as bad as your typical mainstream corporate superhero comic. The shag, just like the ultra-slick, can get out of control. What you get with this comic is that scribbly sketchy feel you crave along with a sure-handed approach that demonstrates a mastery of the medium and a pleasurable read for you!
Gosh, I don’t know how I do this sometimes. I’ve been writing reviews, along with creating my own comics, for years now and the whole thing remains as fresh as a daisy for me. You see, it’s comics like this that show the way. They prove that the comics medium is truly inexhaustible. You give me a super duper industrial-strength superhero, and it will only work if the right talent is behind it. You can only create, or review, or heavily market, or simply read so many of these super duper comics before you just call it quits. At the other extreme, you give me something a little too precious and too uneven, and that can be annoying too. But you put together a creative team like this one for UFOlogy and you make a friend for life.
UFOlogy was created and written by James Tynion IV and Noah J. Yuenkel. And the artwork is by Matthew Fox. A round of applause to all of you and here’s why. Our story begins in Mukawgee, Wisconsin where nothing is quite as it seems. You think this is just a sweet and innocent small town? Think again. Two teen-aged lives will collide here: Becky Finch, who would have been okay with a sleepy little town; and Malcolm Chamber, who demands the stars and the heavens. Throughout the story, we get snippets of the local FREEK podcast. The friendly deejay, Russ Chamber (Malcolm’s dad) keeps referring to the stars and it seems the town is due for a visit of monumental proportions. Or is the deejay just sort of freaky? This is all an ambitious scenario that takes off with no signs of slowing down.
Gettng back to the shaggy dog quality to this comic, it’s not something you can fake nor rely upon to get you by. The drawing here has a personal touch to it as you can feel that an actual person drew it. But that doesn’t mean that Fox takes that as a sign he can get sloppy. He maintains a sketchy quality that he also keeps under control with a nice clean line. There are other great sketchy styles out there to be sure. Fox’s style has that special natural look about it.
The writing too has a quirky and eccentric thing going on. That can get overdone as well. However, here we have something lean and determined. We get a chance to appreciate the dynamics of each character: Becky is something of a laggy, deliberately lagging behind for the sake of her family; Malcolm is as wild of a dreamer as his dad but we sense he may really be onto something. I think this comic is really onto something.
UFOlogy #1 is available as of April 1. For more details, visit our friends at Boom! Studios right here.
Review: THE REALIST by Asaf Hanuka
For the last four years, Asaf Hanuka has been doing auto-biographical webcomics about his life in Tel Aviv, Israel, entitled, “The Realist.” In many ways, this is a pretty straightforward narrative but, as in any life, things can gain, at any moment, a razor-sharp specificity and intensity. This is, after all, one of the most watched war-torn areas in the world.
So, when a morning can simply consist of a father goading his little boy to eat his toast, that already carries potentially more weight than a similar moment somewhere else. That said, Hanuka seems to carry himself like a man on a mission wherever he might live. The Realist has now been collected for the first time in English as a graphic novel, published by Archaia, an imprint of BOOM! Studios.
Comparable to the work of R. Crumb and Daniel Clowes, Hanuka has a keen sense for depictions of everyday life. What really matters is that he’s FUNNY!
I actually laughed out loud from reading his comics. He wears his version of the average Joe quite well. There’s one strip where we follow Hanuka throughout his day, as if following the daily routine of a computer from start up to sleep mode. At each point of the day, he has options to choose: engage or ignore the bus driver, the neighbor, the co-worker, his son, his wife. End. Repeat the next day. It strikes close to home, and it’s hilarious.
They say that if if you try to call attention to your merits, people will gladly ignore you. However, if you revel in self-deprecation, suddenly you have a following. Well, Hanuka definitely has a following. But it’s more than having readers relate to your problems. Hanuka has an engaging style with his artwork. It’s a crisp rendering of his life that you can’t help but want to know more about.
“The Realist” is an original 192-page hardcover graphic novel, priced at $24.99, arriving in comic shops from Archaia on April 22nd with a cover by creator Asaf Hanuka. For more details, visit our friends at Boom! Studios right here.
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Filed under Archaia Entertainment, Asaf Hanuka, Boom! Studios, Comics, Family, Graphic Novel Reviews, graphic novels, Israel, Middle East, War, Webcomics
Tagged as Asaf Hanuka, Boom! Studios, comics, Daniel Clowes, Entertainment, Family, graphic novels, Humor, Israel, Middle East, Pop Culture, Social Commentary, Tel Aviv, War, webcomics