Comic Reviewed: Will Cooling
Title: Burn, Witchboy! Burn!
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frazer Irving
Lettered by Pat Brosseau
Editor: Peter Tomasi
If 2005 will be remembered for anything in the annals of comicdom then it will surely be remember for the returning of the CROSSOVER (DUN-DUN-DUH!!!). We’ve just about finished House of M and low and behold Infinite Crisis finally starts. Naturally, this has been much wailing and moaning about this development by…er…the very people who buy every, single comic in the crossover. Thankfully, one man had a vision, a vision that involved a crossover with great writing, inventive characters, an eclectic selection of stories and brilliant art. The man is of course Grant Morrison and the project is Seven Soldiers, his yearlong mega-epic spanning 7 miniseries and two double-length specials.
Now of all the (excellent) characters Morrison has introduced so far by far the most interesting and inventive has been Klarion the Witchboy. He’s an innocent lad from a Limbo Town, an underground Blue Amish community where the womenfolk rule, the men live a simple life before becoming zombie miners and everyone is enthralled by an omnipresent and overbearing religion. Wishing to escape this miserable and unrewarding experience Klarion made his escaped to the bright lights of the world above ground. There he saw many strange sights and joined Deviants, a group of gifted youngsters patronised by the mysterious Mister Melmoth. However, it proves to be a front for his evil schemes and now he aims to seize. Now Klarion and his cat Teekl must return and rescue his family and friends. However, to do so he must confront them with the reality that there religion and traditions aren’t true.
What follows is a tremendous issue with plenty of action, off the wall concepts and typical Morrison quirkiness. From the opening scene showing Klarion’s mother’s “joy” at his return, to the terrific fight scenes that are littered throughout the issue and finally the excellent character moments such as Mister Melmoth’s almost dandyish evilness. Morrison’s script really sparkles as he really goes to town with this engaging and enjoyable clash between old and new, reaction and progress. What’s more unlike most of the over Seven Soldiers mini-series this one does have a definite ending; sure it leaves a sort of cliffhanging leading on to Seven Soldiers #1 but there’s a real conclusion to the central issues of the story.
However, where this issue and the wider mini-series has really excelled is the jaw-droppingly excellent, brilliant, gorgeous, exquisite, awesome, fabulous, wonderful, etc, etc art of Frazer Irving. What has been brilliant about Seven Soldiers is that it has given the chance for non-mainstream artists to strut their stuff in a major American project without being subjected to the sludgy goo that passes for colouring in many American comics. No artist has benefited from this more than Frazer Irving and whoever agreed to him colouring his own artwork should get a banana. What makes Irving’s art such a feast on the eyes is the way that he combines the “scratchy” style of the likes of Risso with an expressiveness and ingenuity that marks him out from the crowd. What’s more his twin specialisations in horror and cosmic head-fu*ks a make him uniquely suited for a story that has combined both genres. He is easily one of the most inventive and imaginative artists around today and it seems that (finally) America is recognising that…and about TIME!
So to sum up, this is a great issue with a typical Morrison script and typical Irving art. A thoroughly enjoyable conclusion to an excellent mini-series.
