Source Point Press 2018
Created & Written by Timothy Bach
Created & Illustrated by Brian Atkins
Coloured by Dijjo Lima & Brandon Daniels
Lettered by Marco Della Verde
Werewolf Dad vs. Medusa Mom! While trying to make amends for wolfing out, Phil Graves uncovers a large cache of magical mirrors and discovers he shares not just a past but blood with the man behind it all. As Phil learns more about how the mirrors unlock other worlds, he uncovers a dark power between them. And when that dark power comes home, it divides the family-maybe permanently!
You know why The Munsters was popular? Aside from the fact that it was a funny show it featured a vampire and a Frankenstein monster who had a werewolf child. Automatically they were asking us to suspend disbelief since we all knew that none of these creatures should be able to mate let alone create something that well isn’t in the so-called family tree. Oh and their human niece whom they considered to be homely. Now Timothy and Brian have taken that concept and run with it, increased the flow and made it as modern as it could possibly be. So yeah this for me is a reminder of what I grew up with while simultaneously reminding what it would be like today and either way it’s freakin awesome.
I really like that this book is structured. The opening is interesting and it makes me wonder what purpose it serves. I mean on the one hand it’s just fun and adds a different aspect to the family dynamic but aside from make them fear their father what is the real purpose of this fight? It feels out of place to me and ya know what that might be intended as it makes me want to know more. So it kind of has that effect and keeps the intrigue factor extremely high.
There are some wonderfully contradictory things going on in this book. I mean Phil is a scientist trying to show that magic doesn’t exist it’s just science that hasn’t been discovered yet. Coming from a werewolf who has a Medusa for a wife and well the kids yeah that’s almost a controversial position to take. I am digging the characterisation here it’s like Timothy knew who these characters were before sitting down to write this and it’s now a matter of getting the reader to see it, and he does beautifully mainly through the dialogue. There is a great complexity as well as this simple idea that make this so much darn fun.
Brian and the guys working on the colours bring this to life so nicely. I love the attention to detail that we see and how Brian manages to use the varying weights of the linework to create such nice subtle lines that bring the small details into focus so that we see faces, facial expressions and the clothing for how real it kind of looks. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows us Brian’s rather impressive eye for storytelling. That we see backgrounds being utilised as they really do make the moments pop and expand everything nicely as well show off the size and scope of the story.
There is a lot going on within these pages and the way the are interconnected is brilliantly done. The way that this whole thing is being told has a seasoned presence to it that is wonderful to see as it weaves it’s way through the issue bringing us those moments that surprise, shock and take us to a place we weren’t expecting to go. This fun, exciting and different yet familiar and what the guys here are able to do is sensationally well done.