Beranek, Adam – Phang & Mak #1

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Phang and Mak #1 (drawn by Jason Day)

About the only thing I can think of is that the Adam Beranek who did the other comic on this page can’t possibly be the same person who did this one. Still, the fact that I think that means that he can show some range, so good for him. Where the other book was cute and fluffy, this one has violence, drinking and the characters saying “fuck” a lot. This one is mostly about a vampire and his dog fighting crime, or at least fighting the elements of crime that they don’t agree with. I have a few comments for the creative team, and I hope they’re understood to be constructive criticism and not an expression of my hatred for them. To the writer, I have to mention that using punctuation here and there is a good thing. Not sure why so many people feel the need to leave it out but please, throw some commas in there now and then. Helps the word flow. To the artist, I’m afraid that this book should have been black and white, instead of colored. The colors highlight an obviously rushed page or two, or maybe I’m just being too picky. To the colorist, nice work. See? I’m not all negative. I’ll see where this story is headed when I read the next issue (it’s 12/15/03 as I write this and I’m running out of comics to review, so I’m breaking up individual creators) but for now it’s a jumbled mess.Let’s hope it gets better because there is potential here. I’m afraid that Phang is going to be a Cassidy clone from the Preacher series, so here’s hoping I’m wrong. Contact info is up there, check out their stuff!