Customer Reviews

Pop Gun War

5 star:		(3)
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This gritty urban fantasy defies easy classification. Perhaps the inside cover sets its tone. It maps some large, un-named city in linework that evokes Eisner, but names each part the way a child might: Angel Cliffs, the Doll Factory, Rachel Forest, and Sinclair's Apartment. Then the baffling story begins, an urban fairy tale but a dark one. A self-ordained monk appears first, and an aerial fish, and a fallen angel, and Sinclair - the small and slightly ragged boy around whom this story revolves.

I can't really describe this graphic novel's plot; I'm not sure it even has one in any ordinary sense of the word. Instead, characters evolve and lives interlace as they do in the real world, quite independently of narrative necessity. Dreamworld logic moves Sinclair forward on an angel's discarded wings. Despite the utterly unreal goings-on, Dalrymple keeps this believable in many ways. Storefronts and brownstone stairs create a credible backdrop for mysterious allegories. Honest comments on art, success, and integrity circulate around a top-hatted giant ten storeys tall. Throughout, it all echoes the normal bafflement of a small boy, Sinclair, in the inexplicable world of adults. Emotional truth pervades this story, even as physical facts lose all credibility.

This is a great time for graphic novels - not the "golden" or "silver" age of traditional superheroes, but an expansion of the medium across more mature topics, visual styles, and audiences. Dalrymple joins Nate Powell and others in exploring new literary directions with varied, expressive artwork and stories that leave much to the viewer's interpretation. I recommend this to any thinking reader.

-- wiredweird

This book is crammed with memorable characters, beautiful artwork and immensly enjoyable imaginative weirdness. It's like a David Lynch movie but filtered through a warm throbbing heart instead of a chilly intellect! Despite flying fishes, giant dwarves, hissing monks and severed talking heads this is a story of realistic human emotions with a compassion for all of its characters.

This book is strange and beautiful. It is full of magic. I want more.

'nuff siad