Ryan Day
Jul 19, 2004, 12:05 am
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/autumn1.jpg" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/autumn1t.jpg" align=left alt="Autumn #1"></a>Reviewer: Ryan Day Dreamhunter00@hotmail.com
Quick rating: Great
Welcome to The Nameless Village
Written and Illustrated by: <a href="http://www.tommykovac.com" target="creator">Tommy Kovac</a>
There was a time when “fairy tale” was not synonymous with “Walt Disney.” They weren’t all about beautiful young girls, and they didn’t all live happily ever after. Even if they did make it out alive, odds are that some nasty stuff happened along the way.
But at some point, somebody decided all fairy tales would be fantastic and beautiful stories of make believe. And while there’s no denying that Walt Disney has made some great movies from this principle (though none after 1991), it’s nice to get a fairy tale now and then that’s not all love-conquers-all and talking appliances.
Tommy Kovac’s Autumn is a classical fairy tale by way of Tim Burton: It’s magical and surreal, but it’s also a bit spooky and mysterious. Autumn, a young witch, arrives in the Nameless Village on the Outcast Trolley with her squirrel, Widdershin. After dealing with a hungry monster, she finds the townsfolk all wearing horrible monster masks.
After being mistaken for a monster herself, Autumn casts an enchantment on a woman to make her believe she rescued this strange young girl from a monster in the woods and vowed to look after her. Once the unsuspecting woman has taken her new adopted daughter home, she explains why everyone is wearing masks: It’s an attempt to fool all the monsters in the woods, so they’ll see only other monsters and not human prey. They’ve also all adopted “public names” in yet another attempt to hide their true selves from the creatures. Autumn is rather skeptical of all this, and is determined to find out what’s really going on.
For some reason, Autumn reminds me of nothing so much as Bone. They’re not really the same - Autumn is a bit darker and not quite as goofy - but they wouldn’t look out of place sitting on the shelf together. Part of this is that like Bone, Autumn is a book that could be enjoyed by nearly any audience – even (gasp!) girls! There are very few comic books I could see giving to an 8 year-old girl, but Autumn fits the bill: Spunky young witch with a short temper and a penchant for breaking the rules; anthropomorphic sidekick; supernatural mystery in a spooky town. Fans of Courtney Crumrin may find the book rings a few bells as well.
Kovac’s artwork suits his all-ages tale well: There’s some creepy and spooky stuff going on, but nothing particularly graphic or frightening. Autumn herself may look like a refugee from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (and I mean that in the best way possible), but the rest of the book is quite detailed and realistic. The biggest problem is the lettering: The olde-tyme gothic font flourishes a bit too much at times, making pages with lots of dialogue feel cluttered.
This first issue makes a good impression on almost all fronts: Interesting protagonist, mysterious setting, spooky monsters and a talking squirrel. Honestly, how many other books on the market can offer a talking squirrel – or even any sort of squirrel at all – and a neat little story to go along with it?
Too darned few, that’s how many.
(You can find a preview of Autumn <a href="http://www.slavelabor.com/autumn_prev/autumn_prev.html" target="publisher">here</a>.)
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgnone.jpg
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/autumn1t.jpg" align=left alt="Autumn #1"></a>Reviewer: Ryan Day Dreamhunter00@hotmail.com
Quick rating: Great
Welcome to The Nameless Village
Written and Illustrated by: <a href="http://www.tommykovac.com" target="creator">Tommy Kovac</a>
There was a time when “fairy tale” was not synonymous with “Walt Disney.” They weren’t all about beautiful young girls, and they didn’t all live happily ever after. Even if they did make it out alive, odds are that some nasty stuff happened along the way.
But at some point, somebody decided all fairy tales would be fantastic and beautiful stories of make believe. And while there’s no denying that Walt Disney has made some great movies from this principle (though none after 1991), it’s nice to get a fairy tale now and then that’s not all love-conquers-all and talking appliances.
Tommy Kovac’s Autumn is a classical fairy tale by way of Tim Burton: It’s magical and surreal, but it’s also a bit spooky and mysterious. Autumn, a young witch, arrives in the Nameless Village on the Outcast Trolley with her squirrel, Widdershin. After dealing with a hungry monster, she finds the townsfolk all wearing horrible monster masks.
After being mistaken for a monster herself, Autumn casts an enchantment on a woman to make her believe she rescued this strange young girl from a monster in the woods and vowed to look after her. Once the unsuspecting woman has taken her new adopted daughter home, she explains why everyone is wearing masks: It’s an attempt to fool all the monsters in the woods, so they’ll see only other monsters and not human prey. They’ve also all adopted “public names” in yet another attempt to hide their true selves from the creatures. Autumn is rather skeptical of all this, and is determined to find out what’s really going on.
For some reason, Autumn reminds me of nothing so much as Bone. They’re not really the same - Autumn is a bit darker and not quite as goofy - but they wouldn’t look out of place sitting on the shelf together. Part of this is that like Bone, Autumn is a book that could be enjoyed by nearly any audience – even (gasp!) girls! There are very few comic books I could see giving to an 8 year-old girl, but Autumn fits the bill: Spunky young witch with a short temper and a penchant for breaking the rules; anthropomorphic sidekick; supernatural mystery in a spooky town. Fans of Courtney Crumrin may find the book rings a few bells as well.
Kovac’s artwork suits his all-ages tale well: There’s some creepy and spooky stuff going on, but nothing particularly graphic or frightening. Autumn herself may look like a refugee from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (and I mean that in the best way possible), but the rest of the book is quite detailed and realistic. The biggest problem is the lettering: The olde-tyme gothic font flourishes a bit too much at times, making pages with lots of dialogue feel cluttered.
This first issue makes a good impression on almost all fronts: Interesting protagonist, mysterious setting, spooky monsters and a talking squirrel. Honestly, how many other books on the market can offer a talking squirrel – or even any sort of squirrel at all – and a neat little story to go along with it?
Too darned few, that’s how many.
(You can find a preview of Autumn <a href="http://www.slavelabor.com/autumn_prev/autumn_prev.html" target="publisher">here</a>.)
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/slgnone.jpg