Kevin Sutton
Feb 28, 2008, 10:00 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/image/0208/krash_bastards.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/image/0208/krash_bastardst.jpg" alt="Krash Bastards Book One" hspace=10 align=left></a> Reviewer: Kevin Sutton, kevinsutton@cheerful.com
Story Title: Book One: Honour and Sacrifice
Cheap North American knock-offs may be the final sign of the upending of the old economic order.
Flee! Flee! Only the righteous shall be spared!
Story Title: 7: Namor, or The Desperate Hour
Writer: Joe Casey
Art: Axel #13
Letters: Aryan Yount and Rob Osbourne
Book Design: Drew Gill
Publisher: Eric Larsen
Published by: Image Comics (http://www.imagecomics.com)
Everything the title may suggest, the Krash Bastards is an action oriented comic that is only semi-serious despite a lack of humour. This storybook is Joe Casey’s latest vehicle for his imagination and culture interests which fortunately happens to coincide with something that comic book fans may be amused by. Krash Bastards is a futuristic melee action romp designed to mimic the qualities of popular action manga . Unlike Casey’s more famous and cerebral works, this comic is designed to be strong on style while low on substance. Still, readers may be confused by the vernacular, the manga inspired right to left progression of the story, or the rapid pace of the content. Krash Bastards is a comic with a worthy aim, and a fun concept; but there’s a deceptively large amount of a care required by such an undertaking regardless of its’ base appeal.
“I’ll provide a popscile nightmare!”
Joe Casey’s Krash Bastards costs about ten dollars. The story is 72 pages long, and this digest also includes a script, art sketches, and a letter from Mr. Casey on his project. With all these additions, a reader may be surprised to find that the actual story is only about half the width of the product –but I feel the story progresses at such a speed, I don’t think anyone is going to feel ripped off. (Though I wasn’t initially aware that the panels also went right to left too...didn’t seem to effect the story much though) The comic is produced in black and white, which probably helped keep the price don, and is in keeping with Casey’s stated aim of producing a manga; but I can’t help but think a trippy sci-fi, (or trip-fu, as Casey called it) could have better taken advantage of its’ wild visuals with colour, or at least a more dynamic inking job.
The main characters are a gang of violent publicity hounds who fly about in their spaceship fining trouble and then stabbing it. I suspect readers will be less concerned with the why’s of their rampaging than with what it is that they are saying. From the very start, the voice of the narration and the characters speaks in an alien slang which even Casey admits he can’t really follow anymore. Like A Clockwork Orange before it, Krash Bastards has its’ own lingo which could be parsed for hint about the nature of its universe –if it made sense. At the very least, this kewl-bonics is the highlight in the books overarching sense of style and also prevents us from taking the characters seriously as people. Just try and pick up on subtlety in any of these conversations, and you’ll be wasting time that should be focussed on turning pages to see the next actions and events. Actually, as much as I like the literary tool, I think combining so many contradictory slang elements like English, urban, and expansive synonyms just makes this element a confusing mess.
“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Blammo!”
The art by Axel #13, (LOL!) is both great and flawed. I suggested earlier that the lack of inks and colour doesn’t help, but the pencils help make up for this in several crucial areas. First, the designs are quite good. This is most obvious when looking at the process works included. Casey and Axel 13 have created a truly inspired fashion and the villain in particular looks very cool, like some kind of bushido-Vader. There are some images, like the giant lizard’s rampage, that look fantastic even with the obvious size limitations of the pages. At times the details are excellent and the overall look can call to mind the work of Runaways alum Alphona. However, there is a downside. The action should be the highlight of this kind of book, (failing exciting colors) but there seems to be less effort put into the sequences, as they don't seem to be choreographed much. Also, the characters seem to lose consistency as they move, becoming more exaggerated and sometimes lacking the illusion of momentum. Dramatic angles are used frequently, but not often successfully. The art is exciting, but also seems rushed and given the skill occasionally on display, it’s a little disappointing. Without color or much ink, the pencils are all on their own in these pages and they’re not always up to snuff.
“Someone snaking ya big daddy?”
The book end with the implication that we haven’t seen the last of the Krash Bastards, but Casey’s letter seems to imply that he’s lost touch with this work, so I’m not sure based on this release if this is to continue. As it stands, the comic is somewhat unique among North American products; but I think a smart consumer could find something similarly off-the-wall and fighty that may be better. Still, this is a neat little book that tries and succeeds at being fun. If it continues, it may grow to be even more fun. I must admit that despite my reservations, I’d like to see another installment.
RATING:
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FIND this issue at X-WORLD and SAVE! (http://x-worldcomics.com/)
Story Title: Book One: Honour and Sacrifice
Cheap North American knock-offs may be the final sign of the upending of the old economic order.
Flee! Flee! Only the righteous shall be spared!
Story Title: 7: Namor, or The Desperate Hour
Writer: Joe Casey
Art: Axel #13
Letters: Aryan Yount and Rob Osbourne
Book Design: Drew Gill
Publisher: Eric Larsen
Published by: Image Comics (http://www.imagecomics.com)
Everything the title may suggest, the Krash Bastards is an action oriented comic that is only semi-serious despite a lack of humour. This storybook is Joe Casey’s latest vehicle for his imagination and culture interests which fortunately happens to coincide with something that comic book fans may be amused by. Krash Bastards is a futuristic melee action romp designed to mimic the qualities of popular action manga . Unlike Casey’s more famous and cerebral works, this comic is designed to be strong on style while low on substance. Still, readers may be confused by the vernacular, the manga inspired right to left progression of the story, or the rapid pace of the content. Krash Bastards is a comic with a worthy aim, and a fun concept; but there’s a deceptively large amount of a care required by such an undertaking regardless of its’ base appeal.
“I’ll provide a popscile nightmare!”
Joe Casey’s Krash Bastards costs about ten dollars. The story is 72 pages long, and this digest also includes a script, art sketches, and a letter from Mr. Casey on his project. With all these additions, a reader may be surprised to find that the actual story is only about half the width of the product –but I feel the story progresses at such a speed, I don’t think anyone is going to feel ripped off. (Though I wasn’t initially aware that the panels also went right to left too...didn’t seem to effect the story much though) The comic is produced in black and white, which probably helped keep the price don, and is in keeping with Casey’s stated aim of producing a manga; but I can’t help but think a trippy sci-fi, (or trip-fu, as Casey called it) could have better taken advantage of its’ wild visuals with colour, or at least a more dynamic inking job.
The main characters are a gang of violent publicity hounds who fly about in their spaceship fining trouble and then stabbing it. I suspect readers will be less concerned with the why’s of their rampaging than with what it is that they are saying. From the very start, the voice of the narration and the characters speaks in an alien slang which even Casey admits he can’t really follow anymore. Like A Clockwork Orange before it, Krash Bastards has its’ own lingo which could be parsed for hint about the nature of its universe –if it made sense. At the very least, this kewl-bonics is the highlight in the books overarching sense of style and also prevents us from taking the characters seriously as people. Just try and pick up on subtlety in any of these conversations, and you’ll be wasting time that should be focussed on turning pages to see the next actions and events. Actually, as much as I like the literary tool, I think combining so many contradictory slang elements like English, urban, and expansive synonyms just makes this element a confusing mess.
“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Blammo!”
The art by Axel #13, (LOL!) is both great and flawed. I suggested earlier that the lack of inks and colour doesn’t help, but the pencils help make up for this in several crucial areas. First, the designs are quite good. This is most obvious when looking at the process works included. Casey and Axel 13 have created a truly inspired fashion and the villain in particular looks very cool, like some kind of bushido-Vader. There are some images, like the giant lizard’s rampage, that look fantastic even with the obvious size limitations of the pages. At times the details are excellent and the overall look can call to mind the work of Runaways alum Alphona. However, there is a downside. The action should be the highlight of this kind of book, (failing exciting colors) but there seems to be less effort put into the sequences, as they don't seem to be choreographed much. Also, the characters seem to lose consistency as they move, becoming more exaggerated and sometimes lacking the illusion of momentum. Dramatic angles are used frequently, but not often successfully. The art is exciting, but also seems rushed and given the skill occasionally on display, it’s a little disappointing. Without color or much ink, the pencils are all on their own in these pages and they’re not always up to snuff.
“Someone snaking ya big daddy?”
The book end with the implication that we haven’t seen the last of the Krash Bastards, but Casey’s letter seems to imply that he’s lost touch with this work, so I’m not sure based on this release if this is to continue. As it stands, the comic is somewhat unique among North American products; but I think a smart consumer could find something similarly off-the-wall and fighty that may be better. Still, this is a neat little book that tries and succeeds at being fun. If it continues, it may grow to be even more fun. I must admit that despite my reservations, I’d like to see another installment.
RATING:
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FIND this issue at X-WORLD and SAVE! (http://x-worldcomics.com/)