The Flutter Collection

Title: The Flutter Collection
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Date: 2018
Writer: Jennie Wood
Artist: Jeff McComsey
Colorist: Chris Goodwin, Jeff McComsey
Letterer: Jeff McClelland, Jeff McComsey
Editor: Jeff McComsey, Dave Marshall

The story of a girl with shapeshifting powers who becomes a boy to get the girl she's fallen in love with. And things proceed to escalate quickly.

This story is full of twists as it morphs from high school drama to science fiction political thriller, with bits of horror and superhero flavor along with way.

The characters are complex, and the story manages to constantly go in directions that are unexpected, but at the same time are logical repercussions of the (often bad) decisions by the characters.

Writer Jennie Wood tackles a a range of current political issues, especially as the story reaches its climax, and handles them without going astray from the strong character-driven narrative.

Rating: 9/10

Inky Stories #1

My second review from Arisia! My wife was on a minicomics panel and she got this mini from the creator, who was a fellow panelist.

Title: Inky Stories
Issue: #1
Date: Fall 2011
Publisher: Rotten Kid Press
Writer: Dave Marshall
Artist: Dave Marshall

Dave Marshall's comic short stories are published online at inkystories.com, and this half-sized b/w minicomic collects a sampling of them in print format.

The minicomic opens with an amusing EC Comics style introduction, assuring the reader that the purpose of these stories is to show that crime does not pay.

The main story in the first issue is "Bottle of Red", the artist's tribute to The Godfather, presenting a scene from the classic film with the perspective shifted to innocent bystanders. There's a ton of attention to detail in the scene, which also includes some clever references to the comic book industry in the 1940s.

From there, the book moves on to four quick backup stories including a bit of absurdity from the point of view of a snowflake, a tribute/parody piece based on the classic Marvel Comics monster Fin Fang Foom, a tiny glimpse of a moment in a relationship played out on a rooftop, and a childhood memoir of the artist getting into mischief on a field trip.

All of the stories are brief, but all are full of quirks, clever bits of detail, and unexpected twists.

Rating: 7.5/10