Art and Colors by - Caitlin Soliman
Review by - William R Davis Jr.
Rising costs will eventually make print comics as a business largely unviable. That being said, most Fanboys will agree that actually holding a print comic, the trip to your LCS, the ritual itself, is something that keeps diehard comic fans consistently putting skin in the game. However, most if not all will agree that webcomics are the future. The tablet has made reading digital comics a thoroughly enjoyable experience. They're cheaper, and by this point we’re all aware that the collectability of modern print comics is largely a myth. Try to sell your collection and you’ll quickly discover that they have little to no resale value.
Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from a huge and expensive six issue arc and check out a vignette webcomic, especially one with a soul, well written, and beautifully drawn like Proud by Irish writer James Mulholland and artist Caitlin Soliman.
When delving into Proud, I initially thought that I was being swindled into reading a cliché, hackneyed superhero comic for children. Thankfully within four pages I was proven wrong. Caitlin Soliman’s vibrantly colored art draws a sharp but necessary contrast, complimenting the story well.
The writing uses an almost overly ample amount of foreshadowing. After multiple reads this is the aspect of Proud that I have thought about the most, but ultimately I find myself a bit conflicted here. Maybe thirty percent of readers are going to realize what’s coming next. Admittedly I was in the seventy percent; and these numbers are wildly speculative. No polling data was collected.
The final panel is extraordinarily well executed, heartfelt, and richly illustrated. Proud is easily James Mullholland’s strongest effort to date and Soliman’s art works perfectly. Keep an eye out for the release of Mulholland’s debut graphic novel Jorund. The teaser pages online have me sold on the book already, well ahead of the release date.
No comments:
Post a Comment