Broken Frontier

Lord Byron is a wannabe vampire, a poseur amongst losers, but he’s about to confront the very real deal; witness the Goth coming face-to-face with the truly gothic!

Byron: Mad, Bad, and Dangerous is the second title to be offered in Slave Labor Graphics’ download-only line; issue #1 is available now, with issue #2 soon to come in December, both available in either CBZ or PDF formats, both for the respective costs of only 89 cents per copy! This means that not only will the acquiring of an issue cost one-third the price of a print comic, but they’ll be instantly accessible due to readers’ ability to download each issue as they come. And for those of you who frown at anything that’s not hard copy paper and ink, the entire series will be published in graphic novel format come the summer of 2007! But then the question – as a comic, is Byron good enough for 89 hard-earned pennies and the precious memory space on your laptop?

Byron maintains minor faults within its pacing (at least within its first issue), but Karl Christian Krumpholz has regardless crafted a wry and ofttimes truly terrifying book. The protagonist Byron is characterized with a complexity of ambition and insecurity that has only ever been handled properly in the best of small press gems (such as Blue Monday or Strangers in Paradise), though the self-defacing humor of the book gives it its own, unique flavor. The first issue is primarily concerned with introducing Byron and his obsequious, histrionic manner of life-as-a-wannabe-creature-of-the-night. After a brief but bizarrely memorable scene of his childhood start, the reader follows Byron to a nightclub of wannabes, and the greatest portion of the book is concerned with a battle of the self-conceited between Byron and another, more popular member of the same subculture, Edgar (Allen Poe?). When the dust settles from this, a number of strange things are set into motion, and it quickly becomes apparent that Byron is about to be unceremoniously educated on what truly lurks within the night!

Krumpholz manages a truly witty and thoroughly engaging (if purposefully ridiculous and vapid) struggle between Byron and Edgar, though while some of the slow slide into true horror is masterfully done, a handful of sequences are a bit opaque in meaning and seem haphazardly inserted within the greater narrative. Still, by the final page it seems apparent that much of the explanations aren’t meant to come until later issues, and what is offered in issue #1 is done so clearly and cleanly, and is all well worth the time, money, and memory space required.

Perhaps Byron’s most intriguing and subjective quality will be its art – Krumpholz’s style is highly redolent of both John Kovalic (Dork Tower) and Lea Hernandez (Rumble Girls, Clockwork Angel), and some of the dark and supposedly eerie moments of the book can be difficult to dive into and not continually be reminded of the sheer farce of Kovalic or the lighthearted pulp of Hernandez. Still, there are moments where the sinister qualities of the book do work with surprising strength, and the use of such comic-strip style figures within a more complex storytelling structure may, once the reader has adjusted, be one of Byron’s primary strengths.

Humor, fun, horror, and weirdness – everything anyone ever looks to the small press to deliver is tucked evenly within the pages of Byron: Mad, Bad, and Dangerous. It’s dirt cheap to try ($0.89 cents! $0.89 cents!) and effortless to download from the comfort of your home computer. And don’t forget to check out Whistles #1 and #2, also available for cheap, cheap download at Slave Labor’s website!

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To purchase and download Byron: Mad, Bad, and Dangerous #1 go to: www.slavelabor.com