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I picked this one up at CXC (2024, future readers), mostly because Jay was a charming and relentless salesman. Also please understand, “relentless” is a good thing at a con; I can’t count how many tables I didn’t engage with because the artist couldn’t be bothered to make eye contact even though I’d stopped to check their stuff out. Anyway, I had a plan to review this one as a first issue, making a few suggestions, maybe a harsh criticism or two while the guy was just starting out to help in the long run… and then I checked out his website. This comic is from 2016, and he’s put out roughly a dozen issues since, so he’s both prolific (mandatory for this sort of story) and has most likely learned everything I was going to tell him by now. But hey, I’ve got to say something, so let’s all pretend, OK? This series is all about Lilliput, a sewer worker who sees all kinds of strange and unexplained things beneath the city. I’m guessing that this series really opens up in future issues (several images on the website were intriguing), but the first issue is pretty basic, with two main stories. The first one deals with Lilliput clearing out a clog of what looks like tiny versions of the worms from Tremors (which was a comparison Jay brought up to me at the con, and which is probably what sold it for me), and the second involves her having a long walk and talk with a giant talking… cricket? Both were told as if these events were a routine part of her day, which raises a lot of questions that I’m guessing get addressed later. So there’s plenty of weird stuff going on, but for a first issue I was honestly hoping for more. What’s Lilliput’s story? Who’s writing these reports we see between stories? Not a lot to push me towards a potential second issue based on this comic alone, but since he’s kept it up consistently in the intervening 8 years now I wish I’d bought the collection at the con and not just the first issue. So, to make sense of this jumbled mess, as a first issue I’d rate this as intriguing but so-so. Knowing that there’s another dozen issues changes the equation considerably, and I’m looking forward to getting the first collection at CXC 2025. Oh, also one of the artists is Clint Basinger, who seemed familiar to me. As is usually my solution to this vague sort of memory, I looked him up on my own website and it turns out that I reviewed a few of his comics back in the late 00’s. Look up his name and be amazed! $7
Posted by Kevin 
