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Kickstarter Review: Lizard Men #1

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

If there ever was a societal influence on the media of comics it’s the “more common than you think” election miscues that have battered a number of countries over the last couple of years.  In Lizard Men, writer Steve Horray uses this a means to create a little bit of anarchy into the would be jaded British public with celebrity Dylan Zamani elected to bring the mental to governmental policies and procedures.

Still, this being a comic, things get a little bit off kilter when he discovers that the real power behind the UK isn’t a twice swearing Queen but instead is a race of shape changing Lizard Men!

Steve Horray’s writing in this first issue is fun, engaging and takes a pop at the seemingly earnest politicos who can’t seem to keep out of trouble.  In Dylan he has an anti-establishment Prime Minister to act as a proxy for possibly all the things Horray sees wrong in the world.  Thankfully, that is not a path that Horray walks.  With the introduction of  a couple of people, the book transcends into an almost The Prisoner surreal-ness story, where Dylan may well be a prisoner of circumstance.

The art is provided by Catia Fantini with colors by Chiara Bonacini, who between them, produce a book that looks well polished.  Taking the art first, Fantini has an almost caricature style that whilst helping with the humour of the book, doesn’t fall into whimsy.  In addition Fantini gets to play with panel styles, moving from a Watchman like 9 panels per page to using splash and other variances to help convey the pace of the story and the dialogue.  The colors by Bonacini are pretty well standard to be honest, right up until the point where Dylan has his trip! It’s at this stage that Bonacini comes into her own.

The book, with its political satire and the issues of a subversive and possibly submissive government are true British staples for comic book stories.  It’s good to see that such a tradition is in great hands.

To check out the Kickstarter and check out the pledge rewards, click the link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1406773224/lizard-men-issue-1?ref=category_popular

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 3.5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written by: Steven Horray
Art by; Catia Fantini
Colors By; Chiara Bonacini

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes
I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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