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ABSURD #1
by Sean Tenhoff
($4.00 from
Sean Tenhoff. You can also get it with a black & white cover for $1.00)
Reviewed by Rick BradfordMy initial impression after skimming this one-man anthology several times was that the artwork is very appealing. Tenhoff offers a nice variety of styles and approaches and there's been a lot of well-spent time on detail and texture. There seems to be a lot of underground influence, but in a good way. The art is quite good and I appreciate his lowbrow sensibilities, but the big disappointment here is the writing. Actually, it's not the writing per se, but rather the non-endings to most of the pieces. The narrative itself is fine, the drawings are good, but most of the stories just sort of... stop. The result is a collection of short strips (most one or two pages) that, for the most part, feel more like exercises or portfolio pieces. There's no real character development, which is probably so disappointing because the set-ups are good enough to hook me in. And then – poof! – nothing. And I'm left wondering what could have been. Still and all, as I've mentioned, Tenhoff's artwork is good and there are several pieces in here that work fine, so I do recommend it for those reasons. This collection may not be what it should be but I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this guy.
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