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[This, my third review of Nicholas' work, was originally presented at my blogger/blogspot this year.]
Newt's Tale
Created, Written & Illustrated by Nicholas B. Myers
Published online via ANA Comics
Reviewed by Richard Caldwell
The Precarious Adventures Of Newton Von Brisby is a new and continuing comic strip from the psyche of one Nicholas Myers, wherein we meet and follow the young boy nicknamed Newt. Seven long years ago, Newt's parents were taken away from him, and he has been searching for them ever since, across the world...and across other dimensions and parallel realities, too.
Having read the first eleven pages/screens worth of story, I was absolutely impressed by the vast levels of imagination in this story of a parentless boy and his peculiar name. A strong intro is given, as we also meet Newt's sidekick Bug, who is a flying, speaking, robotic...well, bug. And as with many of Myers' previous efforts, things are not at all what they seem. This certainly applies to our youthful hero as well.
The visuals are great, black and white art with a very natural flow in spite of the unnatural characters and settings. As with the Harijan series by this writer/artist, the more inhuman and bizarre the subject matter, the more the art sings its own song of intuitive praise for such geniuses as Tex Avery, John Byrne, and Katsuhiro Otomo. I have followed Myers' work, and his growth evidenced in this strip as both a draughtsman and storyteller are phenomenal. His layouts are confident, and his brushy inkwork colors and defines this new world well.
This is the kind of story open enough where almost anything you could possibly imagine just might indeed happen. Though all-ages (with a knowing nod to the readers looking for more experimental subject matters) in general tone, the promise of fantasy, mystery and adventure offered by The Precarious Adventures Of Newton Von Brisby is overall enticing and unique enough to hope to oneday have a few trade collections on the old shelf.
And like all good webcomics, look for updates every week regularly from the guys at ANA.
Although you can see teaser pages in print if you are lucky enough to score a copy of the ANA Previews book, available later this year.
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