Customer Reviews

Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Josh Howard loves Bigfoot. And, apparently, he isn't alone. Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch is a 250 page anthology featuring dozens of indie creators including David Hartman, Martin Abel, Courtney Huddleston, Jason M. Burns, Wes Molebash, and many more. Brimming with creativity and just sheer oddness, the end result is a package that is sometimes violenujhit, sometimes frightening, sometimes charming, and consistently entertaining.

Howard starts off the anthology with a short story about a woman being stalked in the woods ... but is it by the sasquatch or something worse? The other 27 stories are a creative tsunami: some are straight horror stories such as "Saw Mill Horror" by David Hartman and "An Abominable Christmas" by Jason M. Burns, Frances Liddell, and Greg Gatlin; others are science fiction such as " Sasquatch Vs. UFOs" by Greg Gatlin; and still others just defy classification such as the yeti-with-a-crane-arm by Molebash and Pat Bussey.

My favorite story is "Sasquatch & Timmy" with art by Wes Molebash and colors and letters by Justin Stewart. Unlike some of the other stories, this tale is more Saturday morning cartoon than EC Comic--and in this case, that's a good thing. The set up is this: Timmy is a lonely kid who discovers a sasquatch while taking out the trash. The two become friends, and then Timmy takes his new friend to school for show and tell. For a story with such an odd premise, it has a lot of heart. The art by Molebash perfectly complements the story, and I'd love to see the continuing adventures of this oddball pair in the future.

Other stories worth noting include the second Howard tale, "The Hunt"; the disarmingly sad "Little Bigfoot" by Any ND! Green; EC-inspired "Bloody Forest of Sasquatch" by Bryan Baugh; and the aforementioned "Saw Mill Horror". The $24.95 cover price might seem steep, but for 250 pages, the majority of which are in color, it's not a bad deal. Definitely worth a read because of its solid creative teams and yeti-sized concepts.

I found out the 256-page trade paperback "Josh Howard presents Sasquatch" was available from Viper Comics for only $1.99 (thank you Rue Morgue) and immediately jumped over there to purchase it. Not that I knew anything about the graphic novel, but who could turn down a deal like that. I mean Bigfoot is super cool. I don't know if you know this about me but I wanted to be a cryptozooligist/parapsychologist when I grew up. This infatuation lasted all the way until the tenth grade when I found out that at the time, this was a self-proclaimed title and there was nowhere that I could go to school for it. But my obsession with all things strange has not waned in the years since then. It has merely taken a back-burner to my other many obsessions.

Sasqatch is a collection of short stories that feature Bigfoot as the main character. The idea came to Howard on the drive home from San Diego Comic Con back in 2006. It was late, they were tired and as most conversations, Howard and Pat Bussey ended up discussing how cool Bigfoot is and why something like this collection didn't already exist. Not only did Viper head Jessie Garza immediately jump on board but Howard found out that there were tons of people out there that would jump at the chance to become involved because they liked the mythos surrounding Bigfoot. Like I said, he is super cool!

The tradepaperback is an incredibly diverse collection. It includes 28 stories created by 54 artist, writers and letterers. When I say diverse, I am not kidding. The medium ranges from black and white line work to watercolors to digital paintings. And the writing leans more towards humerous, but there is some political commentary and some amazingly poignant and sad storytelling as well.

You can look forward to more cute and funny than horror in this collection. It opens with a "Peeping Tom" Sasquatch and a discussin of the colors of a goth girl's panties. A few highlights include the art of "Memoirs of a Bigfoot". Not only is it incredibly detailed but this Jamie Hewlett-esque world almost seems a little too involved for a collection like this. Many props go to Robin and Lawrence Etherington.

"I Am Sasquatch" is an exception to the comedy drivel and is a surprise in it's simplicity and weight thanks to Benjamin and Marlena Hall.

I am a big fan of David Hartman. It is very cool to see his story "Sawmill Horror" in here. He doesn't seem to get to write all that often. His facial expressions are just out of this world and you can count on him to give us our first truly scary story. You will not be disappointed in the amount of blood as well.

There were a lot of people that were totally new to me which is also one of the great things about collections like this. I am now an instant fan of Otis Frampton. The stories also luckily seem to differ so much that it never starts to run together. That is always a problem for collections. The fake comic book covers throughout the book are a nice touch and I had quite a few moments that I laughed out loud (X Treme Bigfoot Fighter and A Yeti Tale).

At this price and quality, there is no way you could pass up picking this up. If not, what are you doing here? :)