Grumble #3
Albatraoss Funnybooks 2018
Created & Written by Rafer Roberts
Created & Illustrated by Mike Norton
Coloured by Marissa Louise
Lettered by Crank!
The cat's outta the bag... and out for blood! Eddie and Tala are on the verge of escaping Baltimore once and for all, but Simon, the feline hit-man, stands in their way. Will our heroes be able to defeat Simon, steal back their car, and skip town in one piece? Or will Eddie do something stupid and get everyone killed?
I love this story so far it is just off-kilter enough to be oddly fascinating and still somewhat believable at the same time. The idea that a magical world exists with or own, hidden from sight usually just visible out of the corner of the eye is one that has intrigued us for years. To see these folks bring that to us so eloquently is indeed a rare treat. Also the fact that we have so many different arcs permeating the book already and the idea that Eddie is entertaining about being her father well that’s just another brick in the wall.
The way that this is structured is spectacular to see. The overall ebb & flow is damn near flawless and how we see different avenues of the story appear alongside those notions that we all wonder about well it not only keeps us guessing but it engages the reader in some fantastic ways. We all do want to know if Eddie’s her father and we still aren’t quite sure why she has this intergalactic bounty on her head and yet the prospect of those being answered is enough to keep us coming back. There is this continual evolution in how we see the characters with each new encounter that they have and it raises that intrigue factor with each passing page.
I adore the fact that we as readers are also continuously thinking about what we see and then take that off the page and expand upon theories in our own minds. This level of engagement that reader is drawn into just continues to demonstrate the talent and skill of Rafer’s storytelling ability. He really is writing one of the more exceptional works of fiction that is on stands right now, it is exactly what it appears to be and doesn’t try to be what it isn’t. There is a lot to be said about that alone.
I’m always continually impressed by Mike’s work. It doesn’t matter what he’s working on either the man is just one of the talented and underrated/underappreciated artists working today. His ability to utilise the varying weights of the linework and create such attention to detail is sensational. I mean the fact that we see the buildings, the floor of the bus or that sub/burger that dude is eating to that office which looks like a tornado hit it, to his creativity and imagination in bringing Eddie or in Simon and any of the other non-human folks that we see, the attention to detail is mesmerising. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off his incredible eye for storytelling. Also I love the colour work we see here. The shading and colour gradation or how light sources are utilised are all used to show how talented Marissa is. Plus her eye for which colours to use in clothes, ties and the like are simply fantastic to see.
That we are seeing so many companies rise up, branching out and getting some of the most talented folks to tell their own stories is so much better than relying on the stale regurgitated ideas and gimmicks we see in corporate comics companies. The level of storytelling from it’s writing through the interior artwork make Grumble a worthy new addition (to Jurassic Park) to this industry and my long boxes!
Albatraoss Funnybooks 2018
Created & Written by Rafer Roberts
Created & Illustrated by Mike Norton
Coloured by Marissa Louise
Lettered by Crank!
The cat's outta the bag... and out for blood! Eddie and Tala are on the verge of escaping Baltimore once and for all, but Simon, the feline hit-man, stands in their way. Will our heroes be able to defeat Simon, steal back their car, and skip town in one piece? Or will Eddie do something stupid and get everyone killed?
I love this story so far it is just off-kilter enough to be oddly fascinating and still somewhat believable at the same time. The idea that a magical world exists with or own, hidden from sight usually just visible out of the corner of the eye is one that has intrigued us for years. To see these folks bring that to us so eloquently is indeed a rare treat. Also the fact that we have so many different arcs permeating the book already and the idea that Eddie is entertaining about being her father well that’s just another brick in the wall.
The way that this is structured is spectacular to see. The overall ebb & flow is damn near flawless and how we see different avenues of the story appear alongside those notions that we all wonder about well it not only keeps us guessing but it engages the reader in some fantastic ways. We all do want to know if Eddie’s her father and we still aren’t quite sure why she has this intergalactic bounty on her head and yet the prospect of those being answered is enough to keep us coming back. There is this continual evolution in how we see the characters with each new encounter that they have and it raises that intrigue factor with each passing page.
I adore the fact that we as readers are also continuously thinking about what we see and then take that off the page and expand upon theories in our own minds. This level of engagement that reader is drawn into just continues to demonstrate the talent and skill of Rafer’s storytelling ability. He really is writing one of the more exceptional works of fiction that is on stands right now, it is exactly what it appears to be and doesn’t try to be what it isn’t. There is a lot to be said about that alone.
I’m always continually impressed by Mike’s work. It doesn’t matter what he’s working on either the man is just one of the talented and underrated/underappreciated artists working today. His ability to utilise the varying weights of the linework and create such attention to detail is sensational. I mean the fact that we see the buildings, the floor of the bus or that sub/burger that dude is eating to that office which looks like a tornado hit it, to his creativity and imagination in bringing Eddie or in Simon and any of the other non-human folks that we see, the attention to detail is mesmerising. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off his incredible eye for storytelling. Also I love the colour work we see here. The shading and colour gradation or how light sources are utilised are all used to show how talented Marissa is. Plus her eye for which colours to use in clothes, ties and the like are simply fantastic to see.
That we are seeing so many companies rise up, branching out and getting some of the most talented folks to tell their own stories is so much better than relying on the stale regurgitated ideas and gimmicks we see in corporate comics companies. The level of storytelling from it’s writing through the interior artwork make Grumble a worthy new addition (to Jurassic Park) to this industry and my long boxes!
RSS Feed
