CR Review: Power Glove



Creator: Chris Duffy
Publishing Information: Webcomics Nation, ongoing, 10 chapters to date, Free
Ordering Numbers: Webcomic

There are three reasons worth checking out the adventure comedy serial Power Glove at Webcomics Nation. The first is that Duffy is the comics editor at Nickelodeon and according to Jordan Crane an exacting one, so a look at his own comics might provide a clue as to how Duffy likes his comics constructed or at least what he finds funny. The second is that Power Glove embraces some of the virtues of webcomics, such as the ability to get playful work out in front of a public without worrying about return and lengthy, drop-away tiering of the narrative. The third is that it's entertaining to read, which is really the only one you need.

Power Glove follows three acquaintances -- Paul, Angela and Casey -- as they interact with a glove Paul drags home from the job which seems to have magical, or least super-scientific abilities. Basically, the glove is just a plot trigger that allows Duffy to do things to the characters. More importantly, it gives all three something over which to obsess, which reveals character and leads to much of the comedy. What's surprising given the Will Elder-esque density of some of Nickelodeon's cartoons and the rat-a-tat panel to panel clarity of others, Power Glove fairly rambles, loping along at its own speed and sometimes almost by accident slipping into a joke or two. It reads sort of like Lapinot, only without the self-improvement aspects, the kind of from-the-journal comics making that a cartoonist might create in his neighbor's living room while babysitting very quiet and well-behaved children. There's no sense of beginning or end, only middle. While Duffy's art is generally crude and his ability to build progressions seemingly limited for the roughness of the craft, the quality of the pictures bounces around enough to make me believe he's not always pushing at the far end of his talent. Then again, why should he? This is a comic about a mischievous rubber glove whose power may have come from the toilet, two idiots acting as a kind of 1a and 1b of impulsive juvenile activity, and a (so far) sensible person whom we can't truth for the company she keeps.

It's very pleasant, actually, with a couple possible exceptions. There some sequences where Duffy crosses the line from a kind of careening, carefree rhythm to his back and forth exchanges and into a kind of self-indulgent storytelling that isn't unfamiliar to similarly loose comics. It should also be noted that almost no one finds abrupt fake-outs of the "Really? No, not really." variety funny except the person who writes them. Mostly this comic is good company. If this is Duffy doodling into a pad, and there's a lot to suggest he might take any doodling more seriously than this comic, there are worse things than having a guy like this pass you notes in class.


 
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