The World Below - Paul Chadwick
This one I saw at the library and was surprised to find something by Paul Chadwick that wasn't Concrete. Since I'm a fan of Concrete, I'm up for anything else that Chadwick creates. It turns out this is collected from some older comics (1999 and 2000), but was just published in book form recently.
"The World Below" features the Team of Six, adventurers hired by a billionaire robotics guy, Charles Hoy. It seems that he encountered a flying machine from a sinkhole on the farm, and manage to parlay its unique technology into a vast tech empire. Well, now the technological advances are running out, so Hoy is sending people down the "Rabbit Hole" to search for more technology.
That's the premise, and it's basically an excuse for Chadwick to tell some bizarre stories. They have a little of the feel of old sci-fi movies, with titles like "The Stove!" and "Zombies!" (Every title ends with an exclamation point.) From monsters with mix-and-match limbs to a mysterious hypnotic spire, the World Below is filled with oddities. Since Concrete is set in a more realistic world (with Concrete himself being the only fantastic element), Chadwick wanted to have a little fun.
Chadwick's black-and-white illustrations are, as always, expertly rendered and filled with details. But I think I prefer Concrete to this one. It's a little too scattered and off-the-deep-end, and I think he's better at dealing with real issues in Concrete than here. Apparently the comics series didn't really sell well, but garnered a small following. I'm glad I found the book, but once through is probably sufficient.
Fed to jonathan's brain | July 07, 2007
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