Over at Comics Should Be Good (one of my favorite comic blogs), Greg challenged his readers to read something different. You can check the rules over there. I already tend to buy comics now and again that meet that challenge, but I rarely write about them. But here we go. I decided to pick up the trade of Bigfoot, containing issues 1-4, written by Steve Niles and Rob Zombie and illustrated by Richard Corben. You can Pick it up at Amazon.com.
Why did I choose this one? Well, for one thing, I love Bigfoot. During the 70s, I was really really really into Bigfoot: I watched the movies (Mysterious Monsters was great and Legend of Boggy Creek scared the hell out of me back then), read the books, etc. But I really bought it because I like Richard Corben’s art a lot. I enjoyed his collaboration with Harlan Ellison, Vic and Blood: The Continuing Adventures of a Boy and His Dog, and his style really appeals to me. His storytelling skills are very strong.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this comic, but I found it quite interesting and a good read. This isn’t a nice, friendly Bigfoot: he’s truly a force of nature, killing randomly in a backwoods town. In 1973, this Bigfoot killed William Fuller’s parents right in front of him, and he wants revenge. He teams up with the town’s sheriff (who’s been covering up Bigfoot’s crimes as much as he can) to take the monster down. Pretty standard revenge plot: certainly the writing is competent enough to carry the plot. But the real joy is in the art. Corben’s a master of horror and the images he draws are violent, visceral and detailed. When Bigfoot attacks, the art carries the chores of surprising the reader extremely well. The comic reads like a movie, albeit one that doesn’t pull its punches. A heroic dog attempts to take on Bigfoot: in a movie, chances are good that the dog would escape dramatically, giving us a feel-good moment. Here, Bigfoot quickly deals with the threat.
That being said, the comic is a little overly long. The story could have been told in two issues, rather than four, and I felt the ending was a little formulaic and pedestrian. Still, the art goes a long way in allowing me to overlook those problems.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 26th, 2005 at 8:23 pm and is filed under Other Comics, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Responses to “Bigfoot”
[...] If you want to curl up with a horror comic, I’d suggest reading my short review of Bigfoot, over at Spandex Justice, then picking up the comic. It’s creepy and oozes with disturbing images. Plus, you can read it, then watch some 70s Bigfoot movies. [...]
October 27th, 2005 at 9:05 am |