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Book: Creature Tech
Written By Doug Tennapel (Top Shelf Publications)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz
The trunk of the graphic novel tree might fork into two primary branches: the serious, yet quasi piece of fiction, a la Ghost World, and those tempting, bigger than life fantasies.
The story line of Creature Tech is a wild one, stemming from the prodigal Doctor Ong's encounter with the real Shroud of Turin, somehow left among an anonymous crate of artifacts. Before he can harness the relic's power it is stolen from under his nose by a ghost and he is sucked into a symbiotic relationship with an empowering squid-like beast. Shunned by his small town preacher father, a secret arm of the government sends a giant mantis to act as security for the embattled Doctor. Katie, a waif with atrophied hand and amblyopic eye, tempts the hero, and a reincarnated wraith named Jameson rises to haunt the town while they seek to find love amid the chaos. The long dead Englishman animates cat beasts and releases them in an army, hoping eventually to awaken a giant space eel. It turns out that the San Joaquin valley was built on the back of one of these burrowed snakes and Jameson is out to fire up the dormant beast.
Sound like a wildly fantastic ride?
Writer and artist Doug TenNapel, an Eisner award winner, has created a crashing unpredictable brawl of a story in Creature Tech, with improbable resurrections, twists and turns. Jumpy in its transitions, Doctor Ong's tale moves in a choppy manner between some very unique ideas. Creature Tech never breaks into acts to create the convenient flow a serial collection. The book would be well served to feature an occasional artistic break to mark segments. The black and white art is nice, but perhaps presents itself as a little too shy in places. TenNapel doesn't utilize great full-page spreads as often as he could to illustrate his fantastic subjects. Resurrected mummy alienates and mutated hellcats after all are delightfully improbably and should feel bigger than life.
© 2003 - Erick Mertz