Broken Frontier

Indie creator Bart Thompson tried to bring back the romance comic for the 21st century in these anthology titles.

Romance comics were a tried and true staple of the Silver Age but since the Silver Age passed few creators have tried their hand at the genre without turning it to parody or satire.  Thompson not only takes a sincere approach, he also tries a little variation on the theme.

With Amour readers are given glimpses of various relationships at a turning point: a young man about to throw caution to the wind to follow a free spirit, love on the line between life and death, a woman about to break up with the love of her life because she fears telling her parents that the person she loves is another woman, and many more.

Amour: The Evil Inside, however, is a little bend on the genre.  With this title Thompson mixes horror with the relationships --- a boat under attack from sea creatures and one of the passengers may not be human… but which one?  A young man who engages in a one-night stand with frightening consequences, and a zombie love story.  The general aura of these stories puts one in mind of TV series’ like Tales from the Darkside, Night Gallery and Tales from the Crypt.

The comics overall are a mixed bag with some stories stronger than others.  There are two big hurdles for Thompson to overcome though:  First, in trying to put three stories in each issue he makes the pieces seem more like vignettes or scenes out of much bigger stories.  As such, it doesn’t feel like there is a true beginning, middle and end to each tale.  We do not really get to travel with these characters, we only see short bits of their lives and because of this most of the time they feel like ciphers.  Still, not all stories are like this.  “Snapshot”, the story of the lesbian lovers, shows a development of the relationship over time despite the quick pace of the story and this helps make the characters and their relationship feel more grounded.

Second, many of the stories feel a bit hollow through lack of conflict or drama.  For those tales there is nothing there for the plot to grasp onto.  There is no rule that says the stories have to follow the traditional ‘boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back again’ format but there is a definite need for more of an arc to the relationships – no matter how short and fast the arc is.

The art for all of these comics is provided by various artists and ranges from solid to “shows potential”.  Many of the artists have a good grasp of anatomy and storytelling but there are a few places where the artist’s work lacks polish or where the figures are put through contortions the average human body cannot perform.  It is refreshing though to see Thompson take some chances with different art styles for the stories.  While many of the tales feature more traditional comic book art, the artist on at least one story uses a Manga style while the artist on another story uses a broad, comic strip style, cartoony artwork.

In the end, Thompson deserves a lot of credit for taking a gamble and trying to resurrect the old romance comic genre and put a new face on it but the series still has some weaknesses to overcome.  As it stands, Amour: The Evil Inside is currently the stronger of the titles with its twisted and sometimes surprising tales of monstrous love – proving that love isn’t always what it seems.

For information on how to acquire any of the Amour titles go to http://www.approbationcomics.com/