So, sometimes you stumble into opportunities by sheer accident. One such opportunity came about a week ago. My wife had booked a table at the Beechwood Winter Market here in Ottawa as part of her Mary Kay business. I had gone to pick her up a little early, and decided to walk around a bit, see what was there. Upon returning to the room she was based in, I discovered that the table directly behind her’s was manned by a local artist and his wife/editor selling their own comic books.
Von Allan and Sam “Moggy” B operate Von Allan Studio here in Ottawa and Von and I had a fun chat about comics, particularly my all-time favourite Alpha Flight. Then, to my delighted surprise, he gifted me an autographed copy of his ongoing series “Wolf’s Head.” So, there’s the full disclosure part of the review out of the way. This was a gift, and we at Out of the Basement are hoping to have Von on “the show” some day, either as part of Pat’s interview series or as a guest for a full episode recording.
That being said: How was the book? Well, I can happily report that I enjoyed it quite a bit. If I had to describe it in a short one-liner, it would be “urban sci-fi.” The protagonist, Lauren, has come into possession of an A.I that has reached singularity; in other words, it is well and truly self-aware. The A.I inhabits a cloud of what appears to be nanobots and it is capable of remarkable things, particularly when teamed with Lauren’s dog, Sanko. (Apologies to Von, as I can’t seem to figure out how to find and insert a properly accented ‘o’ to spell the dog’s name correctly.)
The two main stories deal with Lauren’s attempts to learn more about how the A.I works, the fallout in her life that her new “charge” has created, and an antagonist’s decision to take private action against Lauren to gain revenge.
I like Von’s style. I wish I were the knowledgeable sort of comics fan that can go into details about art technique and the like, but I’m not. I’m just a reader, not usually a reviewer and all I can say is what I like and what I don’t. I liked the art, the plot was quite clear despite coming into it four issues in, and the dialogue worked for me. (When he chose issue #4 to give me, Von told me it was a good jumping-on point. I have to agree with him.)
It is without a doubt a book for adults. Profanity is used frequently and the main character is shown sleeping in the nude. If that sort of thing bothers you, this is not a book for you. If you don’t mind that sort of thing and enjoy “grounded” science fiction, this book is well worth your time,
There are three “backup” stories. The first is a small side piece featuring “Super Bob” Sanchez, a side character contracted by our main antagonist in the main stories. The second is a text piece details how Von’s earliest work “the road to god knows” got used in a documentary called I Am Still Your Child. A couple of pages demonstrate how Von updated the art for use in the doc. The last backup is a short tale called “I Was Afraid for My Life” which sadly illustrates the dangers of being African-American in today’s climate.
So, this was a very fortuitous chance meeting, and I’m grateful to Von and Moggy for giving me the chance to give Wolf’s Head a try. Definitely different from my usual Marvel Comics fare, but nothing wrong with that. 😀