Comic Review- Lark's Killer #1

Lark's Killer, #1 by Bill Willingham

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I got into Willingham's work right when Fables first started. Point being, there's a lot to Willingham but at this point, Fables will tower over everything he does here out (like Garth Ennis and Preacher).

Not that there's anything wrong with that. It was an excellent book. It just seems highly unlikely (at least at this moment) that DC or Marvel will ever experience a left of center book and give it 150 issues. Marvel has never had much success in that space, and excepting ongoing series (Busiek's Atro City) DC is much like that club that would rather book a Pink Floyd or Grateful Dead tribute band since they know its certainty instead of a band that plays original material. DC seems to be more interested in spinoffs of material like Shade, the Changing Man and Watchmen than promoting something new.

In any case, Willingham has had some great books over the years, but surely wonders what next. His only recent material I am familiar with is his work for Dynamite, which was where he took some of the Edgar Rice Burroughs characters (Tarzan, John Carter) and was spinning Fables or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen type stories with them. (Willingham also unfortunately was that source of that "Women in Comics panel with no women on the panel' meme, which is a more nuanced story that just the meme, and a blemish on someone who is less deserving of it)

But the book? This looked interesting, so I picked it up. I wasn't expecting it, but I really, really liked it.

It has swords and sorcery, but it escapes the Fables shadow. It is certainly a Willingham tale (surely a distant cousin of his Proposition Player), but seems original.

The book itself should appeal to the Dungeons & Dragons crowd. There have been plenty of books, even complete titles like Knights of the Dinner Table as well as TV shows (Xena, etc) and movies devoted to this crowd, but Lark's Killer still seemed pretty fresh to me, and more importantly still pretty funny.

The art is the halting point for many, Mark Dos Santos took a Disney-esque approach that would probably be only found in a children's comics. I didn't have a problem with that. I prefer that to art that is unclear or muddled. Some won't like the exaggerated figures which is more Jungle Book or Secret of NIMH than Vertigo.

Also big thumbs up to Devils Due. I feel like I have read their titles in the past but for the life of me can't name one. In any case - 33 pages with no ads for $4 seems like a revolution.

The plot? Well, I probably should say at least a sentence. (view spoiler)[In this case, a Walgreen's clerk gets transported to Medieval times. (hide spoiler)]

I really don't expect anyone to like this as much as me (or even to like it all), but I really enjoyed it a lot and will pick up the series.



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