Sunday, May 23, 2010

Realistic art, serious storyline - not your typical "celebrity" comic: Turf #1


If you have BBC America in your cable/satellite package, you've probably come across Jonathan Ross at one time or another. Ross is one of the UK's best known talk show hosts. He's interviewed just about every celebrity on the planet, he is a respected movie critic, he has a proven track record in both radio and television, he's a generally well-loved, respected, and entertaining, if occasionally controversial, guy. What you may not know is that Jonathan Ross is also a big ol' comic book fan. Thanks to his resources and connections, Ross has a collection that would make most of us tremble at its magnitude. But he's not just a rich guy who throws money at collectibles, he has a genuine love of comics, art, and awesome storytelling, just like you and me.

What does this have to do with you? You might well wonder. Well, after years of being a comics fan, collector, and historian, Ross has taken the plunge to become a creator. And not like those lame "celebrity" comics where some star who has never read a comic gives a writer some vague notion he once thought might make a good movie and other people turn it into a second rate comic.

Turf #1 has been lovingly created by Ross with respected artist Tommy Lee Edwards. These guys aren't messing around either. Turf is a serious read, not something you can glance at on the shelf and know the whole story. And what a story! It has gangsters, vampires, sex, violence, plucky girl reporters, prohibition era speakeasies, and a crashing alien spaceship! What more could anyone ask for?

Turf is, essentially, about all these different factions in 1929 New York City fighting over, well, Turf. There is money, blood, and power to be had in the big city, and everyone wants a piece of it. The gangs have worked out an uneasy balance of power, but the introduction of the Romanian Dragonmir family, a family of old-world vampires, radically alters that balance. When the Dragonmirs start killing the mob bosses, the remaining kingpins want to take the fight to the bloodsuckers. Even the Dragonmirs are fighting amongst themselves, and things aren't going to be made any simpler by the alien fugitive crashing near Coney Island.

All of these somewhat unlikely elements are made totally credible by Edward's realistic, down-to-earth art. The grit and grime of New York's mean streets is captured just as well as the creepiness of the vampires, and the alien ship doesn't seem at all out of place. The writing is dense and meaty. You'll want to make yourself comfortable before settling in to read this book.

If you know Jonathan Ross as a renowned media celebrity, then you totally need to check out his first work as a comic book writer. If you've never heard of Ross, then Turf #1 is a great comic by a couple of amazingly talented creators. What could be better than that? Maybe if the local comic shop could guarantee this great book? Well, it's your lucky day! Turf #1 is Four Color Fantasies' guaranteed Book of the Week! Twy it for Wossy.

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