Blog Archives
Leonard, Brian – Big Brute
Big Brute
You know, I’ve had my problems with poems in comics in the past, because I have a cold heartless core that doesn’t appreciate lyricism. Or maybe it’s more to do with the quality of the poetry involved. Who knows? All I can say for sure is that Brian has found a way around that: make the poem about a giant monster on a rampage through a city. This is a very short mini with that very simple story, and the poem is from the perspective of the monster. The poem itself isn’t the greatest thing in the world, but it’s not terrible either, and while you’re reading it you get to see this giant beast destroy a town and fight an army. So really, it’s your call as to whether or not that would be of interest to you. Hate poetry but love mayhem? Then you have a real decision on your hands here. $1
Leonard, Brian – Riptoid
Riptoid
If I ever set up a ratings system here it would have to be something based on food. Hear me out before you wander off in bemused annoyance, please. See, the quality of any book is bound to be subjective, excepting obvious errors like misspellings or forgetting to draw eyeballs on a character. So it’s always seemed like the height of hubris to me to place permanent (after all, reviews generally come up quickly when you do an internet search for a book) ratings on books where you’re likely to have your opinion change over the course of years, especially when an artist improves significantly in later work and that lets you have a fresh opinion of an earlier comic. The food analogy comes in when you think about what you get out of a comic. Some hefty, wordy minis are full course meals, while other tinier minis (you know, the kind that you can read in about 20 seconds) are, say, popcorn shrimp. One of them is hardly a meal, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it. And with that we finally get around to talking about this comic, which is definitely one of those popcorn shrimp. This is a rhyming tale of a creature called Riptoid as he tries to escape from people who are trying to kill him for mysterious reasons. It’s six pages of story with one completed rhyme on each page, so it’s over pretty damned quick, but it’s still a fun comic. A little insubstantial maybe, and it’s not like that ending cleared anything up, but who says there’s anything wrong with being mildly insubstantial? I did enjoy the art, although I’d have to see it in a longer story to make any kind of conclusive judgement on it, but it did make me want to see more of his work, which is all you can ask for in a tiny thing like this. $1
Leonard, Brian – Big ‘Un Visits the City
Big ‘Un Visits the City
Who likes mayhem? As you may have guessed by that cover (shame on you for judging a book by its cover, even if you did get it right this time) that giant sea monster (?) decides to wander into the city, because… well, why do these big monsters usually go into cities? Let’s go with that reason, whatever it is. The monster gets some resistance, mostly just a nuisance to him (unless it’s a her), and has a merry old time tearing up the place. Eventually the secret weapon is brought out, but I won’t give away the ending. It’s a fun book if you’re into this sort of thing. No graphic violence so your kids could read it if they love monster movies, and there are a number of little clever asides. I particularly enjoyed the crowd scene consisting of 4 people planning and a number of others running away. Clearly these people were in some sort of anti Big ‘Un squadron, but I loved how any details about it or about the secret weapon were glossed right over. Hey, it’s only a mini comic and the man needed to cram as much destruction in here as he could; there’s no faulting him for that. If you’re looking for a long whiny tract about What It All Means there are plenty of pages on this website that’ll fit the bill. If you just want to see a big monster tearing through a town for no good reason, you’ve come to the right place. $1
