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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Reads Like A Good Movie... With a Bad Ending, October 4, 2005
This review is from: Bigfoot (Paperback)
The new graphic novel "Bigfoot" reads like a good movie with a bad ending.
The letdown of a finish certainly can't be attributed to a lack of talent on the part of the story's creative team. Rocker-director-comic book writer Rob Zombie is a sort of ghoulish Renaissance Man whose work in a variety of media is heavily influenced by 70s-era horror flicks. Richard Corben is a certified artistic genius who ranks with such greats as Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, John Byrne, and Alex Ross as a living legend among comic book artists. Then there's the comics' world's answer to Stephen King, Steve Niles ("30 Days of Night"). Niles is so prolific that during any given week it seems that there are at least 337 horror comic titles hitting shelves that he has written.
"Bigfoot" collects the four-part mini series that was published earlier this year by IDW Publishing. The storyline seems, at first, deceptively simple. While vacationing in Shadow Hills, National Park a young boy is forced to watch in horror as his parents and family dog are brutally murdered by the legendary sasquatch. Years later, when a series of mysterious killings in that same park make headlines, the now grown boy must return and face the monster once and for all.
"Bigfoot" is a good, fast-paced read. For older readers it will bring back fond memories of watching B-movies like "The Crater Lake Monster" and "The Legend of Boggy Creek" in the grindhouse theatres of a bygone era. Corben rarely disappoints and his artwork here is first rate. Many panels make great use of shading and movement particularly in nighttime and action scenes. As for Zombie, anyone who has seen "House of 1,000 Corpses" or "The Devil's Rejects" knows that restraint isn't his strong suit. But the pairing with Niles apparently got him to reign in some of his baser impulses. "Bigfoot" is violent and gory but only when and where it needs to be.
Unfortunately, after a strong start the storyline sputters to a disappointing conclusion. A frequent complaint about Niles is that he writes great stories that he doesn't know how to finish. Working with Zombie didn't keep that from happening here. The final showdown between man and monster just doesn't have the big payoff it ought to.
Bottom line: "Bigfoot" is a good read but it falls short of being a masterpiece.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally.... Bigfoot OWNS!!!, August 15, 2006
This review is from: Bigfoot (Paperback)
Wow. The people who bought this book looking for a factual, well-researched account of the legend of Bigfoot really need to read item descriptions a bit more: "...A monstrous ape-man is stomping around the woods of the Pacific Northwest, and he's not happy with mankind."
It's a HORROR COMIC, people; a HORROR COMIC by ROB ZOMBIE. That being said, I have to say that I enjoyed the book immensely! It's campy and shlocky and full of gore and mayhem... just like a Rob Zombie movie! If you don't like his movies, there's a good chance you won't dig this comic book.
This is NOT a book for the kiddies. Lemme tells ya that right away. It is a VERY graphic graphic novel.
It's a very campy, 70's style horror movie take on the Bigfoot legend with a real simple story: summer of 1973 (right before my birthday, booyah!) a little boy witnesses his family being slaughtered by a crazed bigfoot. Flash forward to 2004 where a string of savage murders that mirror the original attack draws the boy, now a grown man, back to take revenge on the creature.
The artwork is, of course, outstanding. Richard Corben is one of the pillars of the graphic narrative world as it stands today. His ability to render hyper-violent action scenes and his use of stark black shadows add to an already creepy story. I'm not quite sure how much of the story is Rob Zombie's and how much is Steve Niles', but the book's pacing and dialogue feel a lot like Zombie's stuff. Think the Devil's Rejects with Bigfoot as the murderous Firefly family and you get a pretty good idea of how brutal the action is.
The ending isn't a high-budget Hollywood film ending; it's a typical horror comic ending. It's there to shock you until the end and then leave you wanting more. And that's just what it did for me! MORE BIGFOOT! NOW!
I highly recommend it if you like Zombie's movies, Richard Corben's art, or just guilty pleasure/campy horror tales in general.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Formulaic monster movie in comic format., March 31, 2010
This review is from: Bigfoot (Paperback)
Borrowing heavily from Firday the 13th part 6, Jurassic Park, Jaws, and Q, this comic is more of an homage to horror movies of the '80s than an original Bigfoot story. Bigfoot itself is modeled heavily on a large chimp with a droopy lip and is depicted as a human-hungry monster. No reason is given for not having previously simply hunted him down and shot him. He bursts through cabin walls, toples vans off roads, eats deputies, assaults ATV riders, and demolishes campers. All the while, the mayor of Amity, er...the sherriff of Crystal Lake, no wait...I mean the Sherriff of Scary Black Forest (or whatever it's called) covers it all up for no apparent reason.
The artwork is ok. Not great, but not terrible. Sort of like something a college kid with a couple of semesters of intro drawing would labor over. In some panels, I had to really look hard to figure out just what exactly I was supposed to be looking at. Some might argue that's part of the charm. I argue it's simply not very good art. Dialog is clunky at best (I know, I know, it's a comic book) and spelleing errors pop up here and there (again, I know...it's not great literature).
As a hardcore Bigfoot fan, I'm glad to have this, but if you're only casually interested in such things, you could live quite happily without it.
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