A1 Book One of Four (Volume Two)

by P. Craig Russell, Scott Hampton, ILYA

The interior pages are in color.

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Philip Craig Russell was the first mainstream comic book creator to come out as openly gay. Since 1972 his work has won multiple Kirby, Harvey, and Eisner Awards, and Cartoon Crossroads Columbus presented him the Master Cartoonist Award in 2019.

Reviews

[D.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic Comics takes up the gauntlet that Atomeka threw down with the end of their original 6-part comics anthology, with this 4-part full-colour series. It's off to a stellar start, with an odd Igor Goldkind story, 'Along for the Ride,' beautifully painted by cover artist Glenn Fabry, where a British hitchhiker in the US gets picked up by the icons of Beat and goes for a strange ride. The centrepiece of this volume is undoubtedly P. Craig Russell's adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac's 'Voyage to the Moon' (if I remember correctly, this is a story he makes up to excuse his sudden appearance in the play when he falls out of a tree); it's funnier than Russell tends toward, but just as lovely as ever, and could only have happened in colour. Scott Hampton gives us another painted piece called 'Goofing,' all about how he's not really the pro he appears to be. Someone called Ilya does the weakest bit here, titled 'Fanciable Headcase,' which seems to be an adaptation of a song lyric about an abusive bar 'stud.' Roger Langridge gives us a great-looking, silly item in 'Frankenstein Meets Shirley Temple, part 1'; the mind reels at what the second part of this story will bring. Another soft spot in this first volume is 'Wonderful Life' on the last page, a feel-bad 'Save the Whales' eco-message from Steve White; I don't know how this got included here, and it seems ill at odds with the rest of the book (though it does match up with William Stout's painted whale back cover on UK A1 book 5).
This is a more promising beginning than the original series' first book was, and offers a high standard for the rest of the run.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friend Igor has put together a multimedia ebook, which is something of a new-fashioned way of dealing with books, period. Music and art and poetry all in one little place. I especially like the 'graphic novel" portions, two episodes in particular- a hitchhiker is picked up in the desert by an insane Neal Cassidy-Jack Kerouac-Bill Burroughs configuration bordering on serial killer mayhem, and dumped later on down the road at a gas station. As well a story which must be one of his Dad's World War 2 stories, serving as a combat medic in southern France & Germany (coincidentally, my own father had the same job in the same campaign at the same time!) which leaves one to ponder about issues such as social mores in the midst of war- why holding on to them makes a difference. You'll like this if your reading horizons are not limited to the idea of wood pulp constructions in layers of leaves, mass produced to gain a fortune for the publisher if limited in returns to the author.