Grove of Fireflies #1: North Arrow Now Available! $3
How strange. The link for Drew goes nowhere, and the link for him at Short Pants Press goes to… tips for proper care of your cedar furniture. Hey, it’s linked up there, you never know who’s going to need that sort of thing. How about that comic? This is the first issue of a projected six issue series and, as always, kudos for being a bit ambitious in his first (?) time out. This is the story of a group of researchers in Ecuador who are looking for a mythical giant hippo. One of the researchers has a connection with the university that’s funding the whole thing, which explains why they’re able to keep getting money in the face of such an obviously silly expedition and the fact that the man in charge of it is openly hostile to the idea. In this issue a new member of the crew is added and we get to know the people involved in this expedition. Not a bad first issue, as I am curious to see what happens next, but we could have seen a bit more of them actually exploring. It’s a delicate balance, I know, but #2 should show these people out in the field a bit instead of just bickering. Also, and maybe this will make sense by the end of the series, but if you’re going to bother with a subtitle, by the end of the comic I should know what “North Arrow” means. It’s always possible that I just missed it and should hang my head in shame, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t explained here. It was intriguing at least, and worth a look to see where it goes from here. $3
