Kranburn is a webcomic (link on my Links page) that I first saw on the departed HM forums. The author and artist BMB is rather prolific and pretty talented. I recall he said he was trying to produce this ridiculously quickly, he puts out a page a week and for a while it was two pages. The style is raw, and the story is of a vicious post apocalyptic near future set in suburban Australia. Yes, Mad Max does come to mind, which is fitting as I think HM and Mad Max / Road Warrior influenced each other at their times.
He successfully got #1 published, so I bought a copy. It was a bit challenging and expensive getting this from AU, but the company (fec comics) was responsive. The book itself is rather small, less than 7" x 11" but it's very good quality with nice shiny pages, and I really enjoy a physical magazine like this, holding it and being able to flip back and forth between pages easily, so taking the trouble to get it is worth it to me.
I think this first installment of the story does the best of all I've seen so far. It sets up the environment, only shows a bit of the background story, and grabs your attention with a car chase, brutally violent action, and wild swings of emotion. This kind of gripping presentation is exciting. The art is spare but with enough detail and range of perspectives to keep me interested. Knowing how it progresses from watching the webcomic, I see that it's well thought out and appreciate how he tells the story. Following chapters have more foreshadowing and exposition than this first one, which works to this one's advantage as a visual thrill ride and horror show.
Future installments are planned, and I will buy them for the sake of having the paper copies, and giving a bit of support to a comics creator that I like. You should too.
1 comment:
Thanks for this update Fred.
I remember Ben's art from the Forum, and I liked the hold no barred violence as well his shading technique on the glorious B&W art. However, you are right, to order his book from Australia is a bit expensive. But I was told it might be available in USA soon as well, at the better price. So no excuses, everyone should try it out as it is a real blast.
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