Review - Dropout #1
Writer: Phil Hester
Art: Tyler Walpole
Get Caught Up...
First issue! One of 5 new Monkey Brain titles to celebrate their anniversary.
What's Good?
Through main character Wyatt Gundersen, Phil Hester takes us back to a feeling a lot of outsiders remember from high school: ostracization. There is a great deal of bleakness to the opening of this book, and it is handled very well. We're brought into this character's world. We see how he lives, what he struggles with and how he escapes. His method of escape from his reality results in punishement and the story is pushed forward. This is quick and to the point. It is easy for the reader to understand the character and his place. I remember Wyatt from my own high school days, as I'm sure many older readers do. He is a stereotype, yes, but is it really a stereotype if it's true? When you can make a connection like that with a character, great things can happen. I look forward to experiencing Wyatt's journey with him.
The art is beautiful in this book. Walpole's work is top notch. He presents a lot of colors that really drive home Wyatt's feelings of separation. The scene in the school office is captured magnificently. The juxtaposition between the school he is expelled from and the school he is enrolled in is visual storytelling at its finest.
What's Not So Good?
At only 15 pages, this is a pretty slim introduction. We're given an overall feel for the story that doesn't seem to follow what is going to happen. Strange things are certain to be afoot at Wyatt's new "school," as are evident in the cover, featuring different versions of Wyatt. This is only slightly foreshadowed, and I would have liked a bit more of the mystery plugged in early.
The Verdict...
A solid start. There is an interesting premise, and I'm drawn into the character. It doesn't hurt that the art is stellar. Length was an issue and I hope future installments are meatier.
7.5/10
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Buy this book: http://www.comixology.com/Dropout-1/digital-comic/44609