Meth The Immortal vol.1
Millstone Press 2018
Created & Written by Kevin Miller
Illustrated by Kierston Van de Kraats
Methuselah, Meth for short, is a pig who accidentally gained immortality—and a whole lot more—back at the beginning of time, and he's been trying to figure out what to do with his special abilities ever since. All that is about to change.
I hate to say this but we all judge and most of the time by sight so we tend to pass on a few things and the idea of a talking pig was kind of eh. However once you get actually start reading those books I’ll be damned if we don’t change our minds and chastise ourselves for doing that. What I found here was an utterly charming, fascinating and unique story that I have read in quite some time. I mean it isn’t everyday that we meet a talking pig, that isn’t Wilbur, let alone an immortal on at that.
I adore the opening here and the fact that it’s all narration boxes so he’s “talking” about this while he writing it so it’s existential like. It has this decidedly delicious black humour about it that I usually call British humour because you have to think about it and it makes you laugh. Kind of sarcastic at times with a little irreverence thrown in for good measure. Meth is funny that way and the opening here is more than enough to get the readers attention and make them want to read further.
So in order to understand Meth we need to know where he comes from and how he got this way. This is one of the few times that I appreciate the “origin story” coming so soon. I am not going to give that away but dayum if that wasn’t unexpected but a totally genius explanation. The journey that Meth undertakes is rather remarkable and extremely interesting to see unfold. With how he got this way and then all he’s seen, being immortal tends to make one cranky after all, it is no wonder that he has decided that his life story needs to be written down.
I really do like the overall ebb & flow here is incredibly well done and shows off how well the book is structured. I have to say that Meth’s life seems lonely with few folks to talk to as the other pigs sense he’s different and follow him but still it looks like a lonely life to my eyes. So when we see where he is and what he does next I am rather astonished and instantly intrigued! So well done by Kevin and it’s that with every page I turn to it just seems to keep building.
Kierston does some wonderful work on the interiors here. I love black & white work, with many shades of grey naturally, because it really shows off the strength of the artist and how the linework is utilised to create such wonderful attention to detail. I mean I love that we see Meth the same throughout the book even if we don’t see any eyes. So that Methuselah is a male pig and having been well wild all his life shouldn’t he have the tusks like a boar, because well a wild pig is a boar? Regardless I love the look and feel of this Large Black Pig with the ears always covering his eyes. There really is this wonderful representation. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a great eye for storytelling.
This is so much more than you’ll ever expect it to be. If you know who Methuselah is then there’s a clue for you. Seriously you really need to find this, order it and spread the word on how utterly delightful this is!
You can pick this up digitally on Comixology or Amazon and you get print copies at https://www.kevinmillerxi.com/
Millstone Press 2018
Created & Written by Kevin Miller
Illustrated by Kierston Van de Kraats
Methuselah, Meth for short, is a pig who accidentally gained immortality—and a whole lot more—back at the beginning of time, and he's been trying to figure out what to do with his special abilities ever since. All that is about to change.
I hate to say this but we all judge and most of the time by sight so we tend to pass on a few things and the idea of a talking pig was kind of eh. However once you get actually start reading those books I’ll be damned if we don’t change our minds and chastise ourselves for doing that. What I found here was an utterly charming, fascinating and unique story that I have read in quite some time. I mean it isn’t everyday that we meet a talking pig, that isn’t Wilbur, let alone an immortal on at that.
I adore the opening here and the fact that it’s all narration boxes so he’s “talking” about this while he writing it so it’s existential like. It has this decidedly delicious black humour about it that I usually call British humour because you have to think about it and it makes you laugh. Kind of sarcastic at times with a little irreverence thrown in for good measure. Meth is funny that way and the opening here is more than enough to get the readers attention and make them want to read further.
So in order to understand Meth we need to know where he comes from and how he got this way. This is one of the few times that I appreciate the “origin story” coming so soon. I am not going to give that away but dayum if that wasn’t unexpected but a totally genius explanation. The journey that Meth undertakes is rather remarkable and extremely interesting to see unfold. With how he got this way and then all he’s seen, being immortal tends to make one cranky after all, it is no wonder that he has decided that his life story needs to be written down.
I really do like the overall ebb & flow here is incredibly well done and shows off how well the book is structured. I have to say that Meth’s life seems lonely with few folks to talk to as the other pigs sense he’s different and follow him but still it looks like a lonely life to my eyes. So when we see where he is and what he does next I am rather astonished and instantly intrigued! So well done by Kevin and it’s that with every page I turn to it just seems to keep building.
Kierston does some wonderful work on the interiors here. I love black & white work, with many shades of grey naturally, because it really shows off the strength of the artist and how the linework is utilised to create such wonderful attention to detail. I mean I love that we see Meth the same throughout the book even if we don’t see any eyes. So that Methuselah is a male pig and having been well wild all his life shouldn’t he have the tusks like a boar, because well a wild pig is a boar? Regardless I love the look and feel of this Large Black Pig with the ears always covering his eyes. There really is this wonderful representation. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a great eye for storytelling.
This is so much more than you’ll ever expect it to be. If you know who Methuselah is then there’s a clue for you. Seriously you really need to find this, order it and spread the word on how utterly delightful this is!
You can pick this up digitally on Comixology or Amazon and you get print copies at https://www.kevinmillerxi.com/
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