Stillwater #1, from Image, with its red, white, and yellow cover, is a puzzler from the start.
The cover graphic suggests that the human heart, shown in black on the centre of the image, connects a baby, a skeleton woman, and the underground roots and arteries of a town’s main street. Okay, Stillwater, you have our attention!
Chip Zdarsky, the creator and writer, grabs our attention again on the first page of this issue and never lets go. A long night out, a hangover, and a road trip to a town called Stillwater. Daniel West’s shaky life is about to get a wake-up call. It seems that no one can actually die in Stillwater, but things can collide in such a bad way that you’ll wish you could die!
The story flows so smoothly, the characters are so real and flawed and engaging that we are hooked. What are two guys doing in this weird town, and where will its weird inhabitants lead us? Down the weird garden path? To weird eternal life? The dialogue flows naturally, and the situations are as original and cringe-worthy as can be.
Artist Ramon K Perez illustrates with grace and a fluid line. The bends and angles of the people are engaging, his ability to compress information in a tasteful way is refreshing. The gestures, the expressions, the drawing angles are well planned out for visual rhythm. Likewise, Mike Spicer is solid on colours, bringing a vibrant palette to nightclubs, a fun, and painful daylight on the morning after.
There’s got to be a morning after, and there’s got to be an issue 2 of this title to give us more, more!
Image, Stillwater #1, $3.99 for 32 pages of content. Mature
Newsdesk