Home > CR Reviews

Two Bits
posted February 9, 2005
 



This is a promotional flip book, with two comics previewed. Both are high-concept fantasies. One, Lullaby, is about a girl who fell into Wonderland, stayed and now that she's older and has a position of power is exploring a way to get back home. The other, the Imaginaries, follows an abandoned imaginary superhero friend as he goes where such entities go when they're no longer necessary to their creators. The second one is the more fertile territory, I think, but the title and the picture of a "team" on the cover kind of make me doubt I'd be that interested in what will be explored. The whole endeavor isn't sharply delivered, and seems to coast on the cleverness of its overriding plotline. This can be a big mistake when it comes to holding the reader's attention, particularly later on.

I don't really have any idea where Lullaby is going; the art is reasonably attractive although at times the drawings fail to register as comic art as opposed to settling in as illustration. Much of what the artist has not nicked from Carroll and his interpreters seems generically designed, which could also be a worry later on. All in all, this preview might work for its intended audience because the creators are only showing one card out of their hands; leading with your high concept is how movie trailers often work, too. But the comics themselves, they better be executed that much more precisely, or the modest charms of a reasonably fresh twist will soon slip away.