Elk's Run #1

*Short review*

For the Sweet Tooth fans, this comic should be up your alley. There is a nice forest setting where the people are not stable and they are kind of Gun crazy.  This is a trade looking into.  It is another great example that there are great reads in the Indie market.

*Extended Review*

I absolutely adore this book. Indie books provide a need I have that the mainstream cannot provide.  Because of the nature of mainstream American comics, those stories are truly non-finite.  The End may never come.  Stories like Elk's Run, make me glad that they can come to an end.  Stories that are self-contained and finite can be written tighter and be filled with more substance.  A book like Elk's Run can be celebrated like a book Maus because of how it displays the Human Condition in both its ugly and beautiful forms.

I am not the only person to like Elk's Run. Here is a list of comic creators and magazine praises which is found on the back of the trade:

• "Creepy.. fun in a very good way." - Variety
• "Damn fine comic making." - Brian Michael Bendis
• "Really, really good. The team executes it with great skill." - Warren Ellis
• "Combines the coming-of-age and suspense genres in a way that transcends both." - Phil Hester
• "A strong, character-based horror, the kind that builds slowly and gets under your skin. And yes, that's definitely a good thing." - Stuart Moore
  

Part of the reason Elk's Run is such a strong read is that it is a story that touches us on a human level.  It is a story about love and respect, it is a story of how far love will bring a community and how respect can go to far. 

In a community where they keep to themselves, the child as limited in numbers as they are, have to follow the rules of the community. This may mean disposing of murdered outsiders that would cause a ripple in the "harmony" of Elk Ridge.

"Combines the coming-of-age and suspense genres in a way that transcends both" is the quote I agree with most.  Because of the children the story is something we can relate to in some way. Each chapter leaves a new hook into you that makes you want to read the book and never consider putting it down.

Joshua Hale Fialkov constructs a story set in Elk's Ridge, West Virgina.  A town that has become a safe heaven for war-scarred Vietnam veterans.  In this land of Elk's ridge, they live with a set of rules that the community agrees with to maintain peace and Harmony.
 
Harmony cannot last forever and the citizens of Elk's Ridge must learn this the hard way. Fialkov keeps us entertained each issue as the once beautiful Elk's Ridge becomes a set of lined up dominoes that are falling in a change reaction that can only lead to its chaotic conclusion.
 

 

One of the strengths this comic has is the art.   Noel Tuazon, comes from the Philippines where there has been many legends like Alfredo Alcala (Swamp Thing, Hellblazer) and Tony DeZuniga (Jonah Hex, Infinity Inc). Tuazon joins young gunner like Francis Manapul (Superboy, Flash) as a talent from the Philippines who live in Toronto.  Not sure what caused the talent connected to the above mentioned men, but Tuazon is a great blend of the grit of DeZuniga's ink style and the mood enhancing ink style I loved in Alcala's Swamp Thing and Hellblazer runs. Tuazon also captures emotions well like Francis Manapul. Maybe its the country of Canada that had such an effect on the appearance of Tuazon's art.  Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Superboy) also have a strong connection to nature in comics.  Tuazon did provide fan art for Sweet Tooth and you can see how perfect Tuazon's ink style is on a book like Elk's run.

Elk's Run is great.  It really is a book you should check out. The writing is solid and the art captures the story perfectly.

Cheers
- Silkcuts