Inaugural Post

Hi, this is the inaugural edition of my comic review blog. I know what you’re thinking; we need another comic blog like we need a hole in the head. Well, some people ENJOY holes in their head. Just look at the body modification industry. Besides, you haven’t looked through the world of sequential art through my slightly askew eyes before.

Well, no more ado, let’s dive in, shall we?

Brody’s Ghost (one shot), Midnight Train and other Tales.

So what’s $3.99 for a comic I won’t have to buy a second issue of? Author/Artist Mike Crilley has sharp Manga-inspired art but there are some irksome minor style inconsistencies across the four disconnected scenes in the book. Our main character, Brody, is a mildly annoying, grunge-ish and an “I’m-trying-so-hard-to-seem-utterly-average-so-every-reader-will-feel-comfortable-following-me-that-I-come-off-as-vapid-and-creepy” dude.

The titular “Brody’s Ghost”, Talia, is a delightful teenage specter with wit, spunk and a stubborn streak. Of course, her sharing a name with my goddaughter doesn’t exactly hurt when it comes to endearing her to me. The Samurai ghost, whose name we are not given, is painfully close to being a sensei trope. He is about as meaty a character as his translucent body.

But let’s get into our four “Tales”, shall we?

Let’s begin at the beginning with “The Midnight Train” in which a sexy but classy young woman in fishnets boards a “sky train” (Read: above the street subway car) and is summarily mugged. The writing quality is marginal and comes-off as sexist; as the powerful male, Brody has to save the helpless girl on the train. At least our hero gets an earful from his ghostly companions on the stylistic mistakes he made during his daring rescue.

Jumping to the third scene, we have the master utilizing ghostly telekinesis on a roach to draw calligraphy in the dust of a tile floor. This is by far the best page of the comic, yet it boasts only one word. The master’s spirit minions appear to be merely exercises in poorly designed faux-Japanese monster self-gratification on Crilley’s part. Brody complains to the spectral samurai that the training methods he is enduring are unnecessarily austere. Predictably, we find that they are working splendidly and that Brody’s mystical powers are developing well.

Our final offering is “The Big Game”, in which Brody is preparing to watch football with his friend Gabe on the latter’s new big screen TV. Talia appears and threatens to wreck havoc unless Brody accompanies her on a jaunt to try to solve a murder mystery. (Did I mention only Brody can see Talia? How predictable.) Besides offering up deeper insights into Talia’s personality, this “Tale” is utterly pointless.

So, Brody’s Ghost: Descent art, one and a half out of three main characters are compelling and if you try to ignore the frequent attempts at humor, a fairly entertaining story crafted with average skill.

But wait! The inside back cover informs us that we have been reading just a glimpse into three volumes of Brody and company’s adventures that you can purchase for the pittance of $6.99 each. For all intents and purposes, this comic is a trap. “So what’s $3.99 for a comic I won’t have to buy a second issue of indeed?

I hate to admit it, but I will, in all likely-hood be on the lookout for book one of the series.