Monday, April 21, 2008

Todays Review: Max and Tonks...


Max and Tonks is the comedic tale of a boy and a lost military robot he takes home. Updated, um....I don't know when actually. Who writes and draws it? I don't know that either. So I guess I'll just review the comic and see what happens...

What an oddball take on comics, this one is. Max and Tonks is drawn in a surreal patchworky cut and paste style, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Far from it, actually. It's really refreshing to see something this different come across my "desk"(my desk being the kitchen table). The humans in the comic resemble some sort of freakish demon peeps(those little marshmallow easter treats shaped like chicks) with stick figure arms and legs. Crazy, but cute nonetheless. Backgrounds are what you might see if you were high on mushrooms. Cute and totally different, until you see another comic that he mentions as inspiration. We The Robots has a style quite similar, but I'll leave it to you whether it's a homage or something else altogether.

The writing was a bit more mainstream, but still had enough edge to compliment the art style. Tonks seems to take on characteristics of the books that he has read, the reason given to explain why he can talk after the first few strips. At times there were no jokes in the strips, and at others a site gag was used. It'll be interesting to see whether they can give the comic a good balance of goofy humor and story.

Max and Tonks intrigued me. The art alone was reason enough to keep me interested for a while, but the story has to grab to keep your attention. I'm not sure the "government wants its robot back" cliched story is going to be what brings readers in. With a little work, Max and Tonks has potential to be a sleeper hit. Give it a minute of your time and see if a cute robot and his human pal deserve your bookmark. It got mine.

I give Max and Tonks...
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(Eight out of twelve chimps)
(Max and Tonks contains no cursing, and is pretty much family friendly)

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