Customer Reviews

Pug

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

 

 

Derek McCulloch and Greg Espinoza's "Pug" tells the story of a washed-up boxer named Jake Mahoney who can't catch a break. You really start to feel for a guy that seems to have been life's personal punching bag. I don't want to comment on any details since they need to be discovered by the reader as they turn the pages.

I will comment on the artwork. Greg Espinoza created a very stark and gritty character. He chose to show the (slightly)happier moments of Jake's past in a lighter, cartoonier fashion and adding coarse detail to the Jake of today. It's like sitting with someone watching a movie of their life; clean and crisp on the screen, then you turn to look at them and see the wrinkles and 3-day stubble.

My only complaint was the length. Jake's life was obviously a painful trip from birth to the boxing ring but we only get to see a few key moments. I want to see more of Jake's past. How did he become a boxer? How does he get out of bed every day and still try and do the right thing.

There's more to Jake than meets the eye, but if Jake won't tell us what it is, then Derek McCulloch and Greg Espinoza need to.

In Pug, a washed-up heavyweight boxer finds his already-horrible life getting worse, as he gets pushed into working for a loan shark. Derek McCulloch's script is terse and exciting, switching between boxer Jake Mahoney's troubled life and a key event that drove him down this path. Greg Espinoza scores a body blow with his excellent art, filtering classic action comic strip storytelling through modern sensibilities, making a perfect match for the story. Intense, not for the youngsters, and recommended.

Pug is a story of a down on his luck boxer that would have made a classic film noir.
The main character is a moral man trying to live down to other peoples expectations of him. His one skill being that of a boxer, his forced associations cause misunderstandings with the people around him. He "sleeps with dogs" so people assume he has "fleas". This drives the story.

The back-story is on the short side and partly inter-cut with the narrative but it makes for a quick dive into the main plot.

Artistically, I really like the clever art style of the book. It evokes the retro look of the Batman Animated Series character design with the solid framing and pacing of artists like Dave Gibbons.

All in all it's fast paced and just a darn good read.