A review by crookedtreehouse
Eleanor & the Egret by John Layman
4.0
John Layman is one of my favorite creators currently working in comics. I was excited to pick up his first creator owned book after [b:Chew, Vol. 1: Taster's Choice|6839093|Chew, Vol. 1 Taster's Choice|John Layman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1409985990s/6839093.jpg|7050578]. It certainly wasn't what I expected when he'd mentioned that this series exists in the same world as Chew, and also contained food based powers, but it was quirky and fun.
[a:Sam Kieth|13359|Sam Kieth|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1283613676p2/13359.jpg] is artist who I loved in the 90s, whose work is always gorgeous, but who mainly draws the same looking female protagonist over and over and over. I loved it in [b:The Maxx, Vol. 1|485685|The Maxx, Vol. 1|Sam Kieth|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347501979s/485685.jpg|473976] but by the time Kieth's Lobo titles came out, I was tired of seeing this same looking girl who was not the same girl. I also recall a Batman story by Kieth that was Alice In Wonderland themed, which was Too On The Nose for me. But his work here, despite the main female protagonist looking like all of Sam Kieth's other protagonist, is flawless. I love the way he bends panels instead of breaking them, I love the occasional subtle shifts in style when dealing with the antagonist. The book just looks gorgeous.
Much like The Maxx, the story isn't as focused as I had hoped, and it seems more concerned with being quirky than getting the story told. But, as the series was only five issues so far, it was able to keep me interested all the way through, even though I suspected it wasn't going to be narratively satisfying.
I recommend it for people who love Chew but are currently having a fever dream, fans of Sam Kieth's art who've been waiting for him to ratchet it up to the next level, readers who enjoy quirky female protagonists and incompetent Britishy police detectives, people who like comics that feel French even though they aren't (I saw this in another review, and thought "It is kind of French. Huh."), and fans of art succubi and hungry egrets.
[a:Sam Kieth|13359|Sam Kieth|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1283613676p2/13359.jpg] is artist who I loved in the 90s, whose work is always gorgeous, but who mainly draws the same looking female protagonist over and over and over. I loved it in [b:The Maxx, Vol. 1|485685|The Maxx, Vol. 1|Sam Kieth|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347501979s/485685.jpg|473976] but by the time Kieth's Lobo titles came out, I was tired of seeing this same looking girl who was not the same girl. I also recall a Batman story by Kieth that was Alice In Wonderland themed, which was Too On The Nose for me. But his work here, despite the main female protagonist looking like all of Sam Kieth's other protagonist, is flawless. I love the way he bends panels instead of breaking them, I love the occasional subtle shifts in style when dealing with the antagonist. The book just looks gorgeous.
Much like The Maxx, the story isn't as focused as I had hoped, and it seems more concerned with being quirky than getting the story told. But, as the series was only five issues so far, it was able to keep me interested all the way through, even though I suspected it wasn't going to be narratively satisfying.
I recommend it for people who love Chew but are currently having a fever dream, fans of Sam Kieth's art who've been waiting for him to ratchet it up to the next level, readers who enjoy quirky female protagonists and incompetent Britishy police detectives, people who like comics that feel French even though they aren't (I saw this in another review, and thought "It is kind of French. Huh."), and fans of art succubi and hungry egrets.