David Edwards Comic Reviews

Originally published as a paperback in 2011, Dark Horse is reprinting Dear Creature for the first time in hardback, with a new drawn introduction from fellow graphic novelist Craig Thompson. Not everything deserves the luxury hardback treatment, but it's hard to argue against it in this instance. With Dear Creature Jonathan Case has created a strange, heartfelt modern fable that deserves to be read and reread for years to come.

Green Valley #1 clearly achieves what Landis and co. set out to do. The trouble is, for now at least, I'm left slightly unsure as to what exactly that is.

With lots of characters and ideas to introduce and not much in the way of action, this probably isn't the most satisfying read in isolation, but there are enough seeds of tension and intrigue sown throughout Hadrian's Wall #1 to leave me eagerly anticipating the next one.

There is a page towards the end of this issue that sums up everything I love about this series so far. In it we see Simon entering the ship's dining hall, and the frosty, wordless reactions of the crew to his presence. The tension in Reis' art is almost unbearable at this point. A pall of worry, hostility and suspicion is engulfing Hadrian's Wall. The spaceship has become a powder keg that could blow at any moment. The dialogue that follows makes the Cold War analogy explicit, but it's almost unnecessary by this point. In addition to being an engrossing mystery and science fiction story, this is shaping up to be a surprisingly thought-provoking and depressingly timely book.

Young is aiming for a younger audience with this book, but even so I think a few twists and turns, a few subversions of the standard war story and sci-fi tropes that form the backbone of this story, could have elevated The Battles of Bridget Lee to something truly special. As it stands, Young's writing just doesn't quite live up to the extremely high standard of his artwork, making for a frustrating read that is beautiful to look at and is packed with potential but ultimately comes off feeling somewhat hollow.