Baby #1 (of 4)
Homeless Comics
Written and Lettered: George O’ Connor
Illustrated and Colored: Griffin Ess
One of the factors I look for when searching for Indie comics, is not only the enthusiasm the creators have for their comic, but also a pitch that piques my interest with something that is fresh and not just a topic that is “hot” right now, like zombies. Right from the inside jacket, you know you are going to be reading something that you haven’t read before, or at least in the way the creative team is telling the story in Baby.
To start off, we get to hear the inner thoughts of a young monster deep in the ocean depths who is just coming to discover his senses; vision, smell and most importantly hunger! From the inner dialogue, we know that this baby monster isn’t out to destroy anything, but is looking for its mother because, well it’s hungry. Switching to the perspectives from the developing monster’s situation, we are introduced to two of the main humans I am sure we will be following along with. One of which is at the end of his career and just wants to retire in peace and in one piece. This character, Frank, is different than most cop or police officers you read about in comics. Usually they are the heroes and rushing into the danger. But not Frank.
The second protagonist we get to know is a cryptozoologist (a pseudo scientist who searches for hidden or undiscovered animals). This character is willing to rush head first without knowing all the facts in an effort to validate his career and life’s work of finding the unknown of the deep seas. These two different views are going to give us very interesting perspectives and keep the story entertaining as well.
O’Connor’s writing does an excellent job of getting the point across on where each character stands as the growing monster heads to the heavily populated shores of Atlantic City, without over-writing the setup of this first issue. The illustrations do a good enough job of giving each of the main characters their own personality and visual cues certainly help (a thick mustached cop and a young energetic scientist). The panels and scenes that I really enjoyed were when we got to see the world according to the baby monster, with everything looking blurry and confusing as he cries out for his mother, and then the view changes to the humans’ perspective of a monster roaring and stalking his way to shore.
After reading this comic a few times through to fully understand the set up and make sure I didn’t miss anything (Easter Egg of Homeless Comic’s other series ‘Healed’ being shown as a movie), I really got to appreciate the character groups and the side characters aiding what looks like our two main characters (excluding the baby monster). This book was a quick read and isn’t thick with dialogue. The story gets across quickly and easily letting Baby take the center stage. There hasn’t been enough misunderstandings yet to really feel for the monster being attacked, but still at the same time we know his/her side of the story and it’s just a matter of time (and issues) until hopefully someone sees the situation for what it is before the baby monster retaliates or worse, his/her mother comes to the rescue!
In the end, this was a fun comic and I would really love to see how the rest of the series unfolds.
Issues 1-3 are available on comixology and you can check out their other series, Healed.
Follow the creative team:
George O’ Connor – @LazyHorde
Griffin Ess – @shadedareas