Lucas Blogs About BUG!
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| Pages big enough to hide my face but still light enough to hold comfortably in one hand? I need to review more comics on this blog. |
That's it? After The Inquisitor's Tale and Ocarina of Time, I expected more pushback on this one.
Wait, so now it's a big deal when I don't give you crap about your reading choices?
I'm sorry, Hypothetical Reader, I shouldn't have assumed.
Thank you. So what is this book's deal?
Well, BUG! The Adventures of Forager is a six-part miniseries written by Lee Allred with pencils and inks by Michael Allred (Lee's brother) and colors by Laura Allred (Micheal's wife). It's the story of Forager (also known as the Bug) who wakes up to find himself in a haunted house with a talking teddy Bear and a silent little girl. Together, they travel between improbable reality shards, assisting various heroes while trying to stop another reality-hopping villain from collecting enough MacGuffins to re-write reality.
I'm gonna stop you right there. Go back and read that sentence you just wrote.
I see your point. But this comic is kinda weird. So I'm not sure how to describe it for someone who's not so familiar with Jack Kirby and the Fourth World. And that's a shame, because this is one of those comics that you could enjoy even going in blind. For example, at the beginning of the book, Bug is surprised to be waking up at all because he died in a comic called Cosmic Odyssey several years ago. I haven't read Cosmic Odyssey but I was able to get the gist of why Bug believed he had died.
So, I should just take it on your word that I'll be able to catch up as I read?
Well, the purpose of a review is to give the reader an idea about whether or not they'd enjoy a book. So if anything in that word salad I just wrote sounds appealing, you should check out BUG! It's a big love letter to Jack Kirby, incorporating several of the characters he created for DC Comics (you may be more familiar with the characters he co-created with Stan Lee for Marvel, several of whom have appeared in the MCU) like the Losers, OMAC, the New Gods, etc. The whole story ends up having the kind of bonkers logic that you expect a Jack Kirby comic to have, and the Allreds' art style (which you may be familiar with from their recently completed run on Silver Surfer with Dan Slott) is evocative of Kirby's without being derivative.
Well, your enthusiasm is kind of contagious, how's the writing?
The story is a lot of fun. Since it was written as a limited series, it always feels like it's going somewhere, even when you're not sure where. Which is most of the time. I hadn't read a Lee Allred comic before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Allred makes good use of the premise of hopping between different improbable reality shards to inject humor into the story, though some people might be put off by how frequently Bug spouts pop culture references (it has to due with his backstory). Oh, and one thing I really enjoyed was that the comic book format allows for a joke where a character's mispronunciation of "Camus" is the vital clue necessary to figure out his identity.
That sounds a little pretentious.
I promise you it's not.
You'll forgive me if I maintain my skepticism regarding your judgment about what isn't pretentious.
Now, Hypothetical Reader, what did we learn about assuming bad faith at the beginning of this review.
That we shouldn't do it. I'm sorry. I'll take your word for it.
Wait, I think that's the wrong message.
Too late, review's over!
But this is my bl-
BUG! The Adventures of Forager Lee and Michael Allred, storytellers, Laura Allred, colorist, DC Young Animal Trade Paperback edition, May 2018, 168 pages, pairs well with a Cherry 7-Up and an idyllic afternoon
Links:
Did you know there's an online Jack Kirby Museum? Because there is.
This comic was published under DC's Young Animal imprint, here's some of their other stuff.
The story is a lot of fun. Since it was written as a limited series, it always feels like it's going somewhere, even when you're not sure where. Which is most of the time. I hadn't read a Lee Allred comic before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Allred makes good use of the premise of hopping between different improbable reality shards to inject humor into the story, though some people might be put off by how frequently Bug spouts pop culture references (it has to due with his backstory). Oh, and one thing I really enjoyed was that the comic book format allows for a joke where a character's mispronunciation of "Camus" is the vital clue necessary to figure out his identity.
That sounds a little pretentious.
I promise you it's not.
You'll forgive me if I maintain my skepticism regarding your judgment about what isn't pretentious.
Now, Hypothetical Reader, what did we learn about assuming bad faith at the beginning of this review.
That we shouldn't do it. I'm sorry. I'll take your word for it.
Wait, I think that's the wrong message.
Too late, review's over!
But this is my bl-
BUG! The Adventures of Forager Lee and Michael Allred, storytellers, Laura Allred, colorist, DC Young Animal Trade Paperback edition, May 2018, 168 pages, pairs well with a Cherry 7-Up and an idyllic afternoon
Links:
Did you know there's an online Jack Kirby Museum? Because there is.
This comic was published under DC's Young Animal imprint, here's some of their other stuff.
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