Broken Frontier Reviews Family Bones 2
http://www.brokenfrontier.com/reviews/details.php?id=777
Words: Shawn Granger
Pencils: Benito Olea Bellido
Inks: Benito Olea Bellido
Colors: N/A
Story Title: N/A
Publisher: King Tractor Press
Price: $3.50
Release Date: June 00, 2006
The family plot thickens as Sean meets his very first country girl and, in an abrupt about-face, is forced to face his very first kill….
In Family Bones #1, author Shawn Granger introduced readers to a fictional Shawn, a rebellious city boy left behind by too-busy parents (and even a preoccupied grandparent), to stay one summer in the country with his unstable Uncle Ray and sweetly distant Aunt Faye. It isn’t long before his relatives begin evincing near psychopathic behavior, bullying Shawn to work long, laborious hours in the field, and – when last we saw him – he had been driven to and consequently stranded within a field that needed to be plowed. Without any further instruction, he was told to get to work – they’d be back for him come evening. Thankfully, clueless, helpless Shawn is quickly introduced to a self-prepossessed country girl who is more than a match for his own, defiant-of-all-things attitude. Together, the duo oscillate between skittish flirtation and heavy duty toil, and come nightfall Uncle Earl returns as promised, to lead Shawn back to the homestead, there to undertake a far more gruesome task than shucking countryside dirt.
As in the first issue, Granger’s script remains sparse, allowing for the art to tell most of the tale. Thankfully, Benito Olea Bellido’s style is far more fitting to the subject matter and sensibilities than Baez was. The artistic concept for FB is to allow a different artist free reign with each individual issue of the ten-part series, implying that every chapter will sport a brand new look and feel. For his twenty-seven pages of fame, Bellido turns in a sumptuous set of pencils and inks, filled with both cartoonish, serio-comic dynamism and darker, thickly realized settings marked by a superabundance of shadows and grit. Such a blend of paradigmatic affections mixed with bleakly etched surroundings gives the script a far greater dramatic affectivity this issue than the last, and even brings to the table a playful kind of intelligence – a subtle wit that the first issue lacked (just take a look at the cover that spotlights Shawn gripping tight a blood-stained axe with a round-eyed, slack-tongued chicken’s head – one can just hear the poor bird clucking away for its life!).
As for the story itself, Granger continues to portray Ray and Faye as a beguilingly unsound couple, old and simple and yet sharp and alarmingly vital. They move slow, think slow, but only as a cat appears to do when stalking a bird; underneath – and always threatening to be unleashed at the worst possible moments – is an irrepressible violence, staggering in its severity. The story of Ray and Faye Copeland – the oddest pair of serial killers to be captured in the past century – is a true one, and Family Bones is meant to be a semi-fictional accounting of their final days. Granger’s execution of the plot would be intriguing enough on its own merits – it’s leisurely paced, taking time for all the mundane, seemingly pointless proceedings of daily life, which brilliantly enhances the undertones of efflorescent hostility buried between the panels. Still, the knowledge that this unquestionably terrifying couple were once living and enacting similar scenes in the real wide world as are witnessed in the comic – that is just plain chilling in all the right ways.
Family Bones #1 will be released in May, with #2 following in June. This reviewer felt that the first issue was a pleasant read, definitely packed with a potential that was nearly, though not quite, not yet, realized. This second issue, however, either was an evolution into said potential, or I, myself, had grown to enjoy the storytelling style. Either way, it’s a definite plus that the series proves to be an unconsciously diverting, steadily, naturally enthralling read. I can’t wait to see what the next issue will bring; I love the rotating artist shtick, and I am digging the plodding, snowballing effect of the script. I recommend Family Bones for any reader looking for a long-term payoff, for a story that will inexplicably call them back every month and demand to be placed on the top of their weekly reading pile. It really is that good, though there may be growing pains when first faced with such a caliginous narrative structuring.
For more Family Bones and King Tractor Press products, go to: www.kingtractorfilms.com/press.html
Words: Shawn Granger
Pencils: Benito Olea Bellido
Inks: Benito Olea Bellido
Colors: N/A
Story Title: N/A
Publisher: King Tractor Press
Price: $3.50
Release Date: June 00, 2006
The family plot thickens as Sean meets his very first country girl and, in an abrupt about-face, is forced to face his very first kill….
In Family Bones #1, author Shawn Granger introduced readers to a fictional Shawn, a rebellious city boy left behind by too-busy parents (and even a preoccupied grandparent), to stay one summer in the country with his unstable Uncle Ray and sweetly distant Aunt Faye. It isn’t long before his relatives begin evincing near psychopathic behavior, bullying Shawn to work long, laborious hours in the field, and – when last we saw him – he had been driven to and consequently stranded within a field that needed to be plowed. Without any further instruction, he was told to get to work – they’d be back for him come evening. Thankfully, clueless, helpless Shawn is quickly introduced to a self-prepossessed country girl who is more than a match for his own, defiant-of-all-things attitude. Together, the duo oscillate between skittish flirtation and heavy duty toil, and come nightfall Uncle Earl returns as promised, to lead Shawn back to the homestead, there to undertake a far more gruesome task than shucking countryside dirt.
As in the first issue, Granger’s script remains sparse, allowing for the art to tell most of the tale. Thankfully, Benito Olea Bellido’s style is far more fitting to the subject matter and sensibilities than Baez was. The artistic concept for FB is to allow a different artist free reign with each individual issue of the ten-part series, implying that every chapter will sport a brand new look and feel. For his twenty-seven pages of fame, Bellido turns in a sumptuous set of pencils and inks, filled with both cartoonish, serio-comic dynamism and darker, thickly realized settings marked by a superabundance of shadows and grit. Such a blend of paradigmatic affections mixed with bleakly etched surroundings gives the script a far greater dramatic affectivity this issue than the last, and even brings to the table a playful kind of intelligence – a subtle wit that the first issue lacked (just take a look at the cover that spotlights Shawn gripping tight a blood-stained axe with a round-eyed, slack-tongued chicken’s head – one can just hear the poor bird clucking away for its life!).
As for the story itself, Granger continues to portray Ray and Faye as a beguilingly unsound couple, old and simple and yet sharp and alarmingly vital. They move slow, think slow, but only as a cat appears to do when stalking a bird; underneath – and always threatening to be unleashed at the worst possible moments – is an irrepressible violence, staggering in its severity. The story of Ray and Faye Copeland – the oddest pair of serial killers to be captured in the past century – is a true one, and Family Bones is meant to be a semi-fictional accounting of their final days. Granger’s execution of the plot would be intriguing enough on its own merits – it’s leisurely paced, taking time for all the mundane, seemingly pointless proceedings of daily life, which brilliantly enhances the undertones of efflorescent hostility buried between the panels. Still, the knowledge that this unquestionably terrifying couple were once living and enacting similar scenes in the real wide world as are witnessed in the comic – that is just plain chilling in all the right ways.
Family Bones #1 will be released in May, with #2 following in June. This reviewer felt that the first issue was a pleasant read, definitely packed with a potential that was nearly, though not quite, not yet, realized. This second issue, however, either was an evolution into said potential, or I, myself, had grown to enjoy the storytelling style. Either way, it’s a definite plus that the series proves to be an unconsciously diverting, steadily, naturally enthralling read. I can’t wait to see what the next issue will bring; I love the rotating artist shtick, and I am digging the plodding, snowballing effect of the script. I recommend Family Bones for any reader looking for a long-term payoff, for a story that will inexplicably call them back every month and demand to be placed on the top of their weekly reading pile. It really is that good, though there may be growing pains when first faced with such a caliginous narrative structuring.
For more Family Bones and King Tractor Press products, go to: www.kingtractorfilms.com/press.html
posted by MrTractor @ 8:48 AM
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