Action Lab Comics 2015
Written by John Reilly
Penciled by Tom Rogers
Inked, Coloured & Lettered by Dexter Weeks
I am enjoying this series a lot more than I could have anticipated. John has really found a way to bring this odd couple together and make them seem like a natural dynamic duo. His characterization here is extremely good and while on the surface it seems like these two shouldn’t even know each let alone work with one another this is one of the best pairings of individuals I’ve seen in recent history.
Last issue the boys went to Mark Twain’s for a party and things there were a little tense to put it mildly. This meeting of writers has taken a decidedly different turn as two of them have somehow managed to take what looks like a human heart and magically create a golem out of books. Think about it all that knowledge coming to life by various writers so it’s intelligence is the culmination of what has created it. Making it more adept and dangerous not to mention smarter than any one person in attendance.
Just the fact that the boys seem to be able to find themselves in such situations demonstrates John’s imagination. He’s a wonderfully creative writer whose stories are just entertaining and don’t rely upon the dark and angst direction many books seem to have taken these days. This really is just pure fun to experience and everyone should take a look at these two historical figures and see just what kind of antics they have.
The Golem made of novels, including Lovecraft’s own notebook, isn’t something that Tesla and his science is able to effectively combat but it really is up Lovecraft’s alley. Meanwhile also last issue Mom decided to help the gentleman who came to Lovecraft’s house for help. They find themselves at something like a seance with this guy in what appears to be Egyptian dress and well this is another thing you just need to experience to see if he’s just some kook or if there’s more to him than meets the eye. Though once again we see the Lady Amelia this issue and that leads to another story full of promise.
Nikola has been fired from his job with Edison and they in turn are approaching a young Albert Einstein to replace him. What this could ultimately mean for future stories is unclear but it is an interesting development. In this time it seems a generous salary is more than enough to pique Einstein’s interest so we’ll see how this develops.
Tom and Dexter prove that you can illustrate a story like this with imagination, just look at our book golem, and emotion. The creativity in the visage of the book golem, the detail in each character letting us see their personality on their faces and the attention to detail when needed on the backgrounds are simply wonderfully done. It may seem more like an animated style of artwork but that just makes me wish we had these coming to us as animated movies as well because that would rock!
Action Lab has become a real source for fun great books with strong writing and interior artwork so if you’re tired of the “big two” mucking about with what you are used to come come seek them out and remember what it’s like to have fun reading again!