By Gentry & Conley
Publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781616551766
Couldn’t resist this one when I saw it advertised. A crazy combination of Dave Cooper and Geoff Darrow car-crashing with Joe Daly to give a vividly realised, absurdly entertaining, eastern action mash-up. It’s published as part of the Dark Horse Originals imprint, so it’s nicely presented in hardback format, but the best part is to be found within the pages with the fantabulous artwork of Aaron Conley.
The book opens with a farmer who has been beaten to a pulp while his wife was kidnapped. He makes his way to Sasquatch Mountain to seek the help of the Cloud God who, after running through several potential options (see opposite for just a handful of the Morphometmen that are tried out), settles on transmogrifying the farmer into the form of the Sabretooth Swordsman so he can seek his revenge.
There’s not a tremendous amount of dialogue, but plenty of beautifully drawn panels, as the Sabretooth Swordsman tackles cyclops, deformed monster goats, mutants, soldiers, bat-apes, an evil hag and the Malevolent Mastodon Mathematician himself – not to mention the hideously altered behemoth that was once the subject of his quest.
It doesn’t let up for page after page, and not only is it richly illustrated with thoughtful monochrome shading throughout, but it maintains a sense of humour whilst avoiding the clichés and pitfalls of a more serious, straight-forward tome. Every heroic action, however successful, seems to end in either disappointment, a lack of appreciation or downright hostility. It’s brash quirkiness makes for a very refreshing and ultimately creatively satisfying read.
As a big fan of Dave Cooper, who does very little other than paint pillowy women nowadays, I found this certainly filled that particular hole very nicely. Gentry and Conley’s enjoyment of the project is writ large in every panel, and at over 100 pages that’s an awful lot of fun and satisfaction to lap up.
I’ve no idea as to whether or not there will be a sequel, but I’m more than happy to pick up anything else this duo may create.
And if you liked that: Have a root about online and try to lay your hands on Dave Cooper’s Suckle, or, if you can find it, Crumple.
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