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Love
Fights
1/JUNE/2003
Publisher: Oni Press Comics
Writer: Andi Watson
Pencils: Andi Watson
Inks: Andi Watson
Colors: Andi Watson [B & W]
Letters: Andi Watson & Woodrow Phoenix
Price: $2.99 US/R35.00 SA
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This is my first sample of work from Oni Press. It’s a greyscale
[Black & White] small press style comic book
by Andi Watson who’s seemingly best known for his work on
such titles as Geisha, Breakfast After
Noon and most recently for his work on Marvel Comics Namor.
Love Fights follows the story of a comic artist named Jack
who seems to have troubles with the ladies. He’s always one
step away from asking a girl out when something gets in his way.
Most of the time that ‘something’ is
a superhero. When you live in a city full of superheroes it’s
pretty hard to get any attention from a girl when you’re just
an ordinary old Joe, or Jack as the case may be.
Billed as a ‘Super-Hero’ comic but
more along the ‘slice of life’ style
of storyline, this comic definitely has a nice slight twist but
has little to do with superheroes and a lot to do with relationships.
Not that the focal point is a problem, it just seems a bit stiff
and forced in this first issue. The only really ‘lifelike’
conversation throughout this issue was the beautifully
illustrated one between Jack and his buddy Russ. Russ berates him
for never having the guts to go the distance and ask a girl out.
Apart from this sequence the rest of the dialogue seemed a bit too
brief, simplistic and somewhat disjointed in nature. Perhaps this
was intentionally done to show the awkwardness between boy and girl
in certain scenes, but nevertheless it had the effect of oversimplifying
the book for me and equally dulling my interest in the story.
The art is also basic in nature and so therefore suitable to the
task at hand. A chalk/charcoal like deconstructive style
of shading is used to ‘colour’
the pages which gives the book an original feel and brings in loads
of texture to the visuals. Again I didn’t feel like the style
as a whole grabbed me, but there was a specific scene that did stand
out from the rest. Watson manages to sketch a really enjoyable
evening landscape where he reverses the blacks and enhances
the white outlines around the characters to give a beautifully unique
feel to this part of the story.
A charming boy meets girl kind of tale with the slightest touch
of superhero thrown in. Pretty stilted when it comes to
dialogue and not all that special story
wise, but has some nice original art ideas and is a nice enough
break from the superhero comic’s norm.
Score 5/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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Comic Reviews
