Elephantmen 1
Elephantmen 1 was something of a revelation to me. I'd just bought my iPad and was busy downloading Apps when i came across one for the many comic book readers. I popped it on and opened it up and started hunting though the lists of free comics. I was in an airport waiting lounge and badly in need to entertainment. After hacking through a pile of bland and flat vector drawn, soulless fair i came upon Elephantmen 1.
The Cover
The cover spoke volumes to me. The noir, blade runner-esque scene dominated by the sad, world-weary eyed humanoid elephant smoking in a dingy neon lit street. You could picture the wider scene in your mind with ease.. it cried out that here was something with a story an a world in which to explore it.
The Story
Set in 2259 we are greeted on page 1 with a street scene that sums up the local. Its a seedy future of brash advertising and a more permissive society. We are introduced to Ebony Hide one of the elephantmen, a race of massive humanoid creatures who are splices of human and African animals. In this world they are shunned, rehabilitated remnants of an experiment in the creation of warriors who fought rampaging battles across Africa in the 2240's.
Ebony is charmed by a young girls endless stream of innocent questions through which we get flashbacks to the brutal past and birth of this strange hybrid and we get a sense of where he fits into this world.
Artwork
The artwork is simply atmospheric with great use of shadow and light appropriate to the scene. The pallet of dirty greens and blues conveys the dingy neon light of a bladerunner future i think we are by no all familiar with.
The faces and design of the elephantmen are expressive and the characters brilliantly conceived, a great deal of emotion comes from the stance and expressions in the characters eyes mean that the few words used in this episode really are supported by pictures of a thousand words. Strangely the human characters are somewhat less well detailed and a little inconsistent in presentation but they do seem to be secondary to the central character of Ebony.
Conclusion.
After reading issue one i went out and got a smattering of other episodes in this collection and i have to say what started out so well has gotten somewhat convoluted with an array of characters and background story that has detracted from what i think was a successful and well executed premise. But that aside i do think this and the next few issues were a triumph of story and artwork (as any comic-book should be) and avoids one of my big complaints about modern comics; namely that the cover art far outshines the material.
There is a lot to recommend in this issue and i really would encourage anyone who likes their comics dark, non-superhero based and with a healthy degree of intrigue, passion and character depth.
This first issue get a 8/10 for me as do the next 4 issues.