Micah Gunnell

This graphic novel is about a boy, Theo, whose superego resides in an invisible fairy-like girl (Ange) who hangs out on his shoulder and gives him good advice. His id is a rather amiably hideous monster (Dev) who maintains the other shoulder and tells him what he wants. They bicker a lot and high school -- and life -- become increasingly difficult for Theo as they become increasingly argumentative -- and Theo can hear them. He wonders if he is going nuts. And then Dev materializes, full-size.
Some weak points stand out in the resolution of the story, but it is a lot of fun getting there and the art is beautifully detailed, inked, colored.… (altro)

A long time ago, I subscribed to Wizard, which is a magazine for comic book fans. One of the benefits of a subscription was the various bonus issues -- usually previews -- from a number of comic book publishers. At some point, Shrugged was one of them: it was the story of a teenager who had a little angel and a little devil sitting on his shoulder, and he was -- cursed? blessed? -- to have their ongoing commentary during his day. It seemed a cute tale -- and with the art heavily influenced by owner-of-the-company Michael Turner (who actually wrote more of the story than he drew) -- it seemed like a title that might go somewhere. And then I promptly forgot about it until recently when I saw a trade paperback in a bookstore.

Overall, it's a pretty decent story, with bits of humor and seriousness thrown in. Our teenaged hero winds up learning a lot about himself and how to handle the voices in his head. Quite a lot of characters are introduced -- too many for an eight-issue story (with the various bonus issues, there are really twelve issues that tell the story; eleven of those are included in this collection). And it doesn't help that Michael Turner died way too young near the end of this series. So the ending seems to feel rushed, with too many unresolved plot lines and too many only-in-comic-books resolutions. (There's some discussion that Aspen may be starting a second series, possibly resolving some of the plot threads and keeping a few characters.) It's certainly not the best in the genre, but it's a fun read that shows a lot of creative potential.

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LT Haiku:
Teenager struggles
With good and evil at odds:
Make the correct choice!… (altro)

This book exceeded my expectations.

I'm not into comics all that much, but I love art. I happened across a booth at DragonCon 2k9 and saw the Aspen booth. I loved the art that I saw there, and was also really impressed with the way the artists used the color.

The artist for these tales, Micah Gunnell, has a very nice style. The art is very clean, I don't detect a lot of hashing and shading in the actual drawings. Those type of effects are provided by the color artist. Also, the artist seems to have a touch of the cartoonist, such as Disney, but it's not super pronounced. The expressions are also well done.

The story itself is a heartbreaking tale. The characters have to react to loss, death, major change in themselves and the world. I guess it's a story of hope against what appears to be inevitable disaster.

There is a section in the back with some sketches by Micha Gunnell.

There is a gallery in the back with a lot of full page covers by Michael Turner and Peter Steigerwald.… (altro)