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MR. BIG #3: SOMETHING DARKER
By M. Dembicki
($1.50 from Matt Dembicki / 3148 Hartwick Ln. / Fairfax, VA / 22031 USA. Web:
www.waspcomics.com)
Review by Mike Hunter
The "Mr. Big" of the title is a snapping turtle who inhabits a pond in suburban Washington, D.C., near the home of M. Dembicki and his wife and collaborator, Carol. Past issues introduced us to the setting. #1, "Spring," is a bucolic series of beautifully drawn views of the pond and its inhabitants, the pace leisurely as befits Nature's rhythms, with minimal bits of narration. "Mr. Big #2: Night Owls," takes place during one evening, and appears rendered with scratchboard. Forms are strikingly limned by bits of moonlight falling upon them amid the greater dark, and again views encompass the many aspects and beings of this lovingly observed ecosystem. The creators' sensitive appreciation of Nature is manifest throughout. Compositions are varied, lifeforms humble and complex are given their turn in the spotlight. In "Night Owls," two characters, a pair of ill-fated young fish wanting to check out the fearsome Mr. Big's lair, are shown vocalizing, a development much extended in the third and current book of the series, "Something Darker." (Dembicki has the good taste not to anthropomorphize the features of the creatures in his pages.) Unlike the previous fine b&w covers, this issue's is a full-color wraparound: a watercolor of close-ups of a dozen animals' eyes, remarkable in their variety. Nature is hardly parsimonious in her inventiveness!
In this issue, the plot kicks into gear: the mother of the two young fish devoured in "Night Owls" decides something has to be done about the snapping turtle. A pair of crawfish give words of caution about the possible consequences: "Getting rid of him may throw everything at the pond off balance...nature will fill the void..." These warnings are dismissed, and the grieving mother begins to seek allies to oust Mr. Big. "...But the rebels needed a leader who could outwit Mr. Big. Someone persistent. Deceitful..." And so, last to be recruited are the crows. But, unbeknownst to all, "something darker" enters the pond, bearing a ravenous appetite from its overland migration. A northern snakehead, an invasive species from China described as a "
top-level predator," and which, indeed, has been found in the waters of Maryland, voraciously clamps its toothy jaws about all it encounters, and now threatens to plunge the pond into the greatest crisis of its existence...
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