Comics review: TWO BITS from Image Comics

TWO BITS #1 (Image Comics) This twenty-five cent special gives us brief samples from the first two issues of forthcoming Image titles.

A Bit of Lullaby – Created and illustrated by Hector Sevilla, written by Mike S. Miller & Ben Avery. Alice of “Wonderland” fame never did return from that world of the Chesire cat and the Mad Hatter. Instead she grew up and became a warrior in the Queen of Hearts’ army, leading them to conquer all of Wonderland. She is now the Queens right-hand, although her staying has more to do with her own fear of loosing her head should she fall from favor. The art is absolutely amazing, with Sevilla bring a touch of manga to a very realistic/classical style. Though this preview was shot from pencils it is obvious that the finished work is going to be even more stunning. Sadly, the brief sequence prompts more questions than it answers and it isn’t really clear where Sevilla & Miller are going with the story. If you’re a fan of the work that Eric Shanower did on the Oz series you might want to take a look at this, since Sevilla’s style does have a touch of the magic that Shanower brought to his. I think that parents might want to read the series before they offer it to younger children, but I don’t believe that teens would be put off by the non-graphic violence.

A Bit of The Imaginaries- Created by Mark S. Miller, written by Ben Avery with art by Miller and Greg Titus. Superhero G was a comic book character created by young Tanner. When the teenage artist discovers his parents are about to divorce he decides that it’s time to put childhood fantasies behind and grow up. What happens to all those imaginary friends and playmates when they are no longer needed? This theme has been touched upon in numerous books, films and other comics, but Miller has his own take on it. It seems that all these creations go to another world where they must make a new life for themselves. What, for instance, would Barbie have to offer that dozens of other fashionable gals couldn’t? Is there really a place for somebody who can leap tall buildings and run faster than a bullet train in such a place? The preview introduces us to some of the main characters and sets up the premise nicely. As with LULLABY, I think that teens and adults won’t have a problem with this title. To be honest this seems more my cup of tea than the previous work, but I might check out the first issues of both to see if they hold my interest.

While neither book strikes me as completely original concepts, they seem to be from folks who want to bring something a bit different to the comics shop shelves. That in itself is a welcome change from more of the same old super-hero nonsense. Recommended with the caveats I mentioned above.