I got a rare, genuine, audible “huh” out of myself when I did a search for Ben’s name here and realized that I’d really never reviewed one of his comics. I’ve been hearing his name for ages, how was this possible? Maybe I’ve only seen his work in anthologies? Still, genuinely shocking to me. So how was this, the first of his comics that I’ve read? Well, it’s full color, and for this setting that was a solid choice. Things start off in a seedy bar, with our hero (I don’t think he’s ever named) using his robot to cheat at cards, which is something that the man he is cheating strongly suspects is happening. That was also an eclectic mix of thugs, considering the fact that we don’t see most of them again. Our hero excuses himself, tries to escape and is chased by a large rocky bodyguard. Due to a little bit of ingenuity they both escape, and then they get a tip (from as big of a “red flag” type tipster as you’re ever likely to see), and make their way to a mysterious city. They follow the clues (the dog standing in a spotlight was a nice touch), make their way inside, and are immediately confronted with oddities. A skeleton holding a mysterious book! A typewriter typing by itself (and getting very annoyed when our hero started typing)! Still, they’re not finding much in the way of actual treasure, but they do run across the couple who has set the trap, and there’s no way I’m going to spoil why they set it in the first place, but it got a solid chuckle out of me. Our heroes are put into a cell with more captives, things go down, and there’s even a series of illustrations in the back from other artists depicting our hero. It’s a thoroughly entertaining comic, and it opens up yet another artist who I’m apparently way behind on reading. $8 (on sale at Ben’s website)
Posted by Kevin 
