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Ooooh, I like, I like --
Thank you very much for the review, Chad. I'll try this one out.
Set in a world in which auto racing bears more similarity to Death Race or Mad Max, the first issue of Strange Science Fantasy asks the question, “Will you live to see the dawn of the gearheads?” If this issue is any indication of the level of quality we’ll be seeing in the next 5 issues of this series, then I certainly hope so. I’d hate to miss out on any of this.
I picked up Strange Science Fantasy on a whim, because the cover looked old-fashioned and thumbing through the inside, I found an artistic style unlike anything I’ve seen in comics. This is sequential art reduced to a basic form: rather than a series of interconnected panels punctuated by word balloons or captions, creator Scott Morse has chosen to tell his story in a format that I’d almost compare to movie storyboards. The story is distilled into three iconic images per page with an odd, mythical-beatnik narration in-between.
The story unfolds as though the reader was discovering some long-lost artifact of an earlier time where 1960s car culture meets with a savage world of science and sorcery. Though the pictures-per-page ratio is low, Morse displays a knack for finding exactly the right moment of action to depict in order to deliver the most impact and creates a story that not only stays with you for a long time afterward, but demands to be re-read almost immediately.
How to describe Morse’s artwork? It’s like a drunken one-night-stand between Jack Kirby and Darwyn Cooke inked with a heavy hand and darkly colored in a two-tone, watercolor style. What I mean to say is that it’s absolutely beautiful and drew me in from across the comic shop, demanding that I buy this comic.
The story is equally compelling. As I said earlier, it has the feeling of a long-lost relic from a bygone era. The book has obviously got a very retro feel to it, harkening back to Silver Age anthologies and 1950s sci-fi films with a voice that falls somewhere between an old pulp novel and a prophetic warning from a post-apocalyptic future. It reads like a man recounting the dawn of an historic new age, leaving out many parts of the story in his fevered attempt to ensure that it is told. It creates as many questions as it answers, which only adds to it’s appeal. Strange Science Fantasy #1 is action packed and manages to mix in an underlying creepiness to the tale, complete with arcane experiments, mechanical alchemy and shocking iconography.
Cover art to STRANGE SCIENCE FANTASY #1 by Scott Morse
And it’s got a one-page back-up feature by Paul Pope! Now how can you refuse that? Especially when the book has NO advertisements (except the one on the back of the book, but that hardly counts)!
Apparently, there will be 5 more issues of Strange Science Fantasy, each one featuring an all-new story and characters which may or may not combine to create a larger, more cohesive story. I fully intend to be back for each and every one. It was familiar yet completely new and original and showcases a very unique vision in the world of sequential art. Strange Science Fantasy #1 was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the best book I’ve purchased this month.
Ooooh, I like, I like --
Thank you very much for the review, Chad. I'll try this one out.
I'm gonna have to look this up. I enjoyed his soulwind series from a few years back!