Short Sharp Shocks #1
Reviewed by David O' Leary
SHORT SHARP SHOCKS # 1
Story by: Ger Hankey
Art by: Ger Hankey
Letters by: Ger Hankey
Cover by: Ger Hankey
Publisher: Self Published
Reviewed By: David O' Leary
This is the first issue of a self published title from the artist of the much lauded Celtic Knights which, I think was the best Irish comic in recent memory. I know that there is a new artist coming on board for issue two in American Tim Dumas and I also heard through the grapevine that original series artist Ger Hankey was working on some creator owned material. Until I received this book, I hadn't seen anything about it and was actually looking forward to reading it.
The thing about self publishing books is that all the risk is on you. If the material is poor, you're sunk. If the material is golden, you are sitting on something that can pay the bills. The last completely one creator published book I read was Dublin City Comics from Alan Nolan last year which I really liked and noted as much in the review. I would like to see more of this type of stance and honestly brave move from a person to self publish in these uncertain times. Those who do such a thing deserve to have their work looked at by many people and as such I have no hesitation in recommending this book.
The format of this book is four short stories in the vein of 2000AD. The first story is a silent strip charting the travails of a bin-bot named Binbo whose only job in life is to collect rubbish. One day he comes across a flyer for a holiday on a beach and he likes the idea only to be laughed out of his boss's office. He comes across the idea of strapping two planks of wood to himself and jumping off a roof and flying to his dream holiday. He barely makes it. He crashes on the beach and after realising that he has no money has to go to work. I liked this strip a lot. The parallels to WALL-E are there but there is enough an original personality and premise to make this first story a winner.
The second story is Mighty Morgan: Ruler Of The Earth. This was brilliant. You couldn't help but hear the narration in your own head in the voice of the guy who spoke over the action in the original Batman TV series. The was a cool witty dialogue in the script and this strip worked well in that the art and script melded beautifully to tell the story in unison. This would have been a cool comic by itself.
The third story was nourish in tone and called Hybrid. It told the story of a hero who has a power that made me laugh out loud, but in a cool way. Hybrid's power is that s/he is a genetically engineered hero who can change gender at the drop of a hat. Like the story says itself; "just consider of the engineering that must have gone into the costume." Great stuff.
The final story stars Blackstuff, who is the official mascot of Transformers Ireland Online. It tells the story of Blackstuff who is confronted by a version of Transformers bully. Blackstuff takes care of him in the only way an Irish person can. He gets the bully blind drunk. Another moment that made me smile.
I was very happy with the quality of the book. Ger's art has never been in question and until now his writing was an unknown quantity. I'm happy to report that it is just as good. This would be a great buy as it is a fun book that I would hope to see more of. If there are going to be more issues of this book in the future I would wholeheartedly endorse it. You just don't get enough of these books nowadays. A great first issue.
Rating the Issue
| Story Story: Overall 8 Concept - 8 out of 10 Plot - 8 out of 10 Dialogue - 8 out of 10 |
Art |
Importance |
Take A Look Inside
Reviewer Bio
David has been with CR since June 2008 and started out as a reviewer and has expanded to do a couple of columns for the site also; starting with 28 Words Later with artist Declan Shalvey and later 5 Minutes With... where he talks with the industries best and brightest from Kubert to Moore.
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