|
Across the Pond is an anthology book with four
separate stories in it; as such, I'm going to talk
about each story individually and then talk about what
I think of the anthology as a whole.
Metal Locus: Ground Floor Up: Part 1
Writer: Keith Champagne
Artist: Sergio Cariello
Metal Locus is a nifty science fiction tale set one
hundred years from tomorrow. It follows two brothers,
who aren't fully human, but I'm unsure as to what they
are. These two brothers are private investigators, to
best describe it. They're working on a job when they
finally cause too much collateral damage and get
fired. Fired in the context of this story and these
employers means they get the crud kicked out of them
and have all their stuff stolen or broken. By the end
of the story they are being hired by a very spooky
chick, who isn't human, either, to go spy on the company
that fired them.
Metal Locus is a nifty well done story that compels
it's readers to want to read more. In fact, I found
myself very disappointed to be at the end of it. It's
fresh and original and art works perfectly to tell a
persuasive story that keeps the audience on its feet.
It's definitely worth the read.
The Adventures of Gauche-Man
Writers: Scott Fry and Stephen Nilson
Artist: Scott Fry
The second story in this anthology book is a bit of a
dud. It's about a superhero who is, as the title
claims with such apropos, rather, well, gauche. It
lampoons every stereotypical superhero/damsel in
distress story out there. Normally I adore satire, but
really, Gauche-Man never rises to its potential and is
rather blasé. I kept expecting him to do something
truly outrageous, but really everything he does that's
gauche is rather mild and disappointing from the name
and build up.
Halloween Man: Working Stiffs
Writer: Drew Edwards
Artist: Nicola Scott
Inker: Mike Furth
Halloween Man has once again found its way to print in
this anthology. You've seen Halloween Man take on
ghouls, zombies, and now you get to see him take on
vampires with his companions Goat Man and Lucy. It's
a great story in the Halloween Man universe, and my
only real complaint is that its not fully accessible
to new readers. You don't really get a feel for
Soloman, aka Halloween Man, beyond the fact that he's
a badass who kills creatures of the night despite
himself being part so. If you take it as the story
of the vampires, it works perfectly. Once again the
writing proves that Drew Edward has a firm grasp of
the horror genre and the new artist on the story is
absolutely phenomenal.
Necro-City Chronicles: A Shot in the Dark
Creator: Richie Blackmon
Story Concept and Artist: Mitch Bird
Dialogue: Scott Parker
Necro-City, from what I can tell, is a world of
demons. This story takes place in a demon strip club,
and really, the eye candy is great. The story leaves
me feeling like I'm missing something, but that just
might be my lack of knowledge about Cthulu-like demon things from
different dimensions. I have a suspicion that this
story does what the above Halloween Man story does and
concentrates on the bad guys and not on the main
character, because I get the impression that the story
arc normally follows the detective man at the end.
Overall:
This is an entertaining anthology with a lot of things
for everyone. The first story alone is worth the
price of admission alone to me. The Halloween Man
story is a very cool Halloween man story, and the art
on the last story is utterly beautiful. The only
story that is less that excellent is the Gauche-Man
story and even it is cutely amusing. Overall, it is
more than worth the three dollars it costs. So if
you're interested in checking it out or purchasing a
copy go check out Across the Pond Studios website at:
http://www.acrossthepondstudios.com/.
|