Gaylord Phoenix #4
Full disclosure time: I haven’t read the previous three issues of this series and it looks like Secret Acres is putting together a collection of this series in the near future. That implies to me that this is most likely meant to be read consecutively, which is something that I haven’t done, so a good chunk of my comments on this comic could safely be considered bullshit. Not that that means that I’m going to get all complainy up in here, but I did want to make that fact clear. In this hefty, disquieting, mesmerizing, gorgeous and relentlessly compelling book (that, again, I didn’t fully understand) we have the birth of the Gaylord Phoenix. Or at least his birth in his present form, or at least his birth in this particular area. Gaylord is looking for his other self, which resides within him, but getting that self out proves to be tricky. From there we get a rebirth, some mutilations (but all for a good cause) and some generally drastic actions in the other half and the attempts to purify Gaylord. This issue makes me all kinds of curious about past issues and how this whole thing holds together. Visually this issue is stunning, but I needed more of a connection to what was going on here to completely love the story all out here by itself. No price or a place to buy his comics online that I can see (why, comics artists, why?), but you can send him an e-mail from his website.
