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MIDNIGHT CREEPby Fredo
($3.00 from Post Apocalyptic Funhouse / Frederick Noland / PO Box 12253 / Berkeley, CA / 94712-5253 USA. Web:
www.altgeek.net)
Reviewed by Jeff LeVineMidnight Creep by Frederick Noland reads so much like an adaptation of an old blues or folk song (of the sort you'd find collected on Harry Smith's
Anthology of American Folk Music) that I'm still not sure if it isn't. Written in a believable, if slightly creepy, southern black dialect, once again it's the tried and true tale of the man who murders his wife when he finds her cheating on him with another man, then hits the rails, only to learn the past will always catch up with you. There are a few nicely drawn panels, for instance the one with our "hero" puking his guts out, but the majority of the art is merely functional. I felt like Noland leaned too heavily on the close-up, especially considering when he was actually drawing a body in motion the art came somewhat alive, when the bulk of the close-up shots are generally lifeless, and occasionally unintelligible (for instance when the main character is, I guess, beaned on the head with a frying pan). In fact, the best art in the small, slim, 24-page comic can be seen in the last pages when the devil makes his appearance – but unfortunately that's also when the art suddenly turns into an Al Columbia imitation. Taken as the equivalent of a throw-away 7" single,
Midnight Creep isn't awful, but hardly seems worth the asking price of $3.00.
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