Boom! Box 2018
Created & Written by John Allison
Illustrated by Christine Larsen
Coloured by Sarah Stern
Lettered by Jim Campbell
Eisner-Award winning author John Allison (Giant Days) and artist Christine Larsen (Adventure Time) join forces for a story about coming home, discovering identity, and accidentally smashing a hole to another dimension. Aspiring documentarian (and actual Chemistry major) Jane has recently reunited with her former best friend Heather, amateur urban explorer. When a trip into an abandoned industrial building leads them to another world, their plan begins to unfold—create a documentary about the world and become filthy, filthy rich. The other side of the portal is filled with monsters, magic and a chance for a whole new life. All they have to do is step through…
Okay this wasn’t anything like I was expecting it to be. I would have expected to see something like this come from the main Boom! Line. The writing from John here is utterly sensational and I adore the fact that Jane is disgruntled from her experiences, giving up her dreams, and after getting her degree is now washing test tubes in the autoclave. The opening sets up the premise beautifully as we see Jane at work and bantering with a co-worker than stepping outside to run into her old partner in crime best friend.
The thing about life we all know is that as we go to college and grow as people we change. Sometimes when you try to force something back to the way it was it does more damage than good, yes I a talking friendships and from personal experience. So I find it interesting to see Heather who is desperate for any kind of human companionship, i.e. friend, try way too hard when they agree to meet and go out to dinner. Except it’s all a ruse.
I can’t get over just how good the writing here is. The characterisation that we see is damn near flawlessly executed. We see Jane and we understand her frustrations, lack of self confidence and being back home at he folks of all places. Most kids after graduating college end up back at home in jobs that aren’t what they were expecting so Jane is completely relatable to. Oh Heather she is more that one who never took college seriously and has worked dead-end jobs and after losing her boyfriend leaving her directionless and bored. That is until she learns Jane’s moved home.
The interiors here really are classic all-ages style of work. Though I will give major kudos for the utilisation of backgrounds here as they flesh out the places there are extremely well. The way that page layouts are used and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a very solid eye for storytelling. Ghost lady is fantastic and while only appearing briefly. I find myself liking it the more I look at it, while Heather’s face is wonky everything else reminds of the animation for Curious George, the biggest of compliments from me by the way. As the issue closes we get to see the creativity and imagination unleash for us.
So Urban Explorer and scientific documentary film maker go through an officially abandoned building with a mysterious reputation and find themselves in way over their heads. I can dig it. It does have that feel of starting either a horror or science fiction story and more likely a combination of both. Plus something already tells me who the ghost lady is and why she’s been watching the building. To come from Boom Box I really would’ve expected them to be tweener’s but I'll go with adults who have issues it’s more fun readers my age.
Excellent plot, premise and pacing of the story and it’s development capture the readers mind, imagination and sense of wonder while still giving us a few mysteries intertwined into this. Fun, interesting and unexpected this will make you appreciate the different levels of Boom!