Chip #1

[northstarfan]

Title: Chip #1 (of 2) (Antarctic Press, 2010, 19 pages)
Creator: Richard Moore (story and art)
Availability: On shelves now!

While I generally enjoy Richard Moore's work, I've been approaching his recent offerings from Antarctic Press with some degree of caution. Boneyard and Far West are loads of genre-tweaking fun, but I've been less than impressed with The Pound and Fire and Brimstone, where the T&A went from being part of the humor (or just nice scenery) to being intrusive. So I was more than a little curious to see how his attempt at an all-ages story would turn out.





Chip is young gargoyle who lives on a farm in upstate New York, along with a lot of damaged gargoyles who have little hope of ever being sold and put to their proper use: perched menacingly atop some important building. Chip knows, of course, that he's in the wrong place. He's not damaged, and he's perfectly capable of being a fearsome sentinel of the night!

All eight ounces of him.

But he is working under something of a handicap -- it's hard to be fearsome sentinel of anything when your sidekicks are an overly-affectionate barn cat and a sarcastic fairy.








And so off to the haunted house they go!

The publisher has also provided a preview.

I think this turned out really well, all in all. I'm not a fan of the huge heads that Moore's been putting on his characters lately, but his expressions are still spot on, and the haunted farmhouse is actually really spooky. So I'll pick up the next issue.

Suggested tags: creator: richard moore, title: chip

Comments

[bean_montag]

Oh wow, this looks really sweet! And I am loving the cover.

[northstarfan]

Glad you enjoyed. :)

[mercia]

I enjoy pretty much all the Moore I can get. Thanks for letting me know this was out there!

Now, if only I could figure out who's soul I'd have to sell to find a copy of Deja Vu....

[northstarfan]

No problem.

The only real complaint I have about this is that it's a slightly lower-than-standard page count with a $3.99 price tag. On a two-part series, that pretty much insures that I'll only bother to buy the books and not any trades that come down the line.

[glprime]

I'll Show You! I'll Show You All! will be the title of my autobiography.

[northstarfan]

You're going to make me post some "Boneyard" pages just to introduce you to Glumph...

[q99]

-Boneyard and Far West are loads of genre-tweaking fun, but I've been less than impressed with The Pound and Fire and Brimstone-

I liked F&B (which, btw, spun off from some of his adult work), but yea, the Pound's stuff was obtrusive and not very good.

[northstarfan]

And it wasn't even the T&A that finally made me drop Fire and Brimstone, but the worst-drawn tail I'd ever seen outside of amateur furry art.

[crantz]

oh, cute! I'm gonna have to pick this up, I love Boneyard already.

[northstarfan]

Glad to be of service. :)

[psychopathicus_rex]

I've read 'Boneyard' - well, some of it - and I've heard of 'Fire and Brimstone', but what are 'Far West' and 'The Pound'?
This is pretty cool stuff. Cantankerous little gargoyle befriended by an ever-lovin' bundle of fur and a Tinkerbell with antlers? I'm interested now.

[northstarfan]

The Pound takes place in a crapsack future dystopia where genetically-engineered anthros are confined to a prison city known as The Pound. It's mostly generic sci-fi and a fair amount of furry T&A. Not one of Moore's better efforts, IMO.

Far West, however, is a lot of fun. The setting is a mash-up of low fantasy, Europeon and American folklore, and gritty western. The book follows the adventures of Meg, a tough as nails elf bounty hunter, and her partner, a talking bear called Phil. As you can see, Meg's something of a hotburr and a far cry from the stereotypical wispy elvish maiden.

[psychopathicus_rex]

That DOES sound interesting - maybe I'll check it out. (Incidentally, what exactly do you mean by 'hotburr'? Tough and feisty, or what?

[northstarfan]

Got it in one.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Thought so, but I'd never heard the term before, so I figured I'd better check.

[q99]

Far West isn't without it's T&A either (Meg's buns get put on display too much for her liking), but it's more subdued and in-plot.

I'm hard pressed to say which I like more between it and Boneyard.

[northstarfan]

And didn't feel to me like Moore was looking for an excuse for additional T&A in Far West. Meg wearing longjohns to bed, for example, despite the fact that they cover her up at lot better than what she wears out in public view (even when they do wind up creatively ventilated. ;) ).

[promethea4]

I miss Boneyard. Thought Chip was pretty cute.