Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Greatest Book on Planet Earth, February 12, 2007
GEAR is simply the greatest book ever written. I read it and exploded. Actually, I wrote it and also exploded.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Second Coming, February 22, 2007
This review is from someone who mainly became a fan of Doug Tennapel only within the last couple years. Back when the Gear series first released, I only had a casual awareness of Doug, in the context of Earthworm Jim. A few video games and FIF covers later, I sought out his work and was an immediate fan of all his other graphic novels.
Despite being a huge fan, Gear eluded me due to its rarity. Finally reading it now, I can certainly see the evolution of Doug's ideas and style. The art is frenetic, dirty, and gritty.
Catscratch is the most obvious offspring of Gear, but an observer can clearly see elements which would later be incorporated into Creature Tech, Earthboy Jacobus, Iron West, and even Robot [...].
Even if you already own the original comics, pick this one up. It's in vibrant, creator-approved full color and looks gorgeous. The story is sillier and less epic than Doug's later works, but has an immense energy to it. Also, it's got an interesting afterword from Doug, describing where life has taken him since Gear's original release.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gear: Revisited, February 22, 2007
The black and white Gear TPB was the first comic of TenNapel's that I ever read. It was the book that convinced me to pick up the rest of his stuff as it was released. The art, the characters, the story -- all of it seemed explicitly designed to cater to my own personal artistic sensibilities. In short, it tickled my fancy.
Years later, he has seen fit to re-release this special book with a great lookin' new paint job. My appreciation for the art has waned a little (I still love a lot of it, but I noticed, having seen TenNapel's more recent work, that it isn't as strong), but I find myself still appreciating the story as much as I did back in 1998. I was surprised to find that there were still several moments of genuine poignancy in this book about cats in giant robots: Simon's words from Heaven during his funeral; Mr. Black's epilogue narration.
Of course, the other things I loved about Gear remain as well: the character designs, the dialogue (Gordon singing and thrusting while piloting the Gear must be seen), the unique humor, and established universe and the epic feel.
Regarding the color: it's good. While I'm always a fan of good black and white line-work sans color, the addition in Gear in no way harms it. In most cases, it actually enhances it for clarity of reading. There are a few pages that worked better in the original black and white (some of the art without contour lines, for example), but overall the color is welcome.
I'd recommend this book to fans of TenNapel's other work, as well as fans of goofy cartoon work in general. This stuff is great.
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