Broken Frontier

Cevin and Batsy just want to find a nice town to settle down in, but people don’t seem to like them. I t may have something to do with one being a werewolf and the other being a vampire, but no one is perfect. Moving into Eppworth Ruddy may prove to be more then our duo can handle.

Bryan Baugh handles both the writing and art chores here. He is pretty good at both. The story is simple enough, with the two eponymous characters coming into town, the simple country folk freak out. To be honest there isn’t much in the way of characterization done with the leads and the town folk all seem to be some kind of stereotype.

However, it is a worthwhile read in the details. Things like naming the hotel the Psalm, or a one eyed preacher. The best is when the story of the horrible monsters in town is told, one elderly gent yelps out "Haunted again!" It seems that our couple have come to the wrong town and by the end of the issue that is fairly prevalent. There are some odd things, like Batsy sleeps through part of the morning and then immerses herself in a tub full of water for the daytime sleep. This was curious and I hope it is explained in other issues.

The only other thing to say about the writing is that the book tries to take a humorous approach to the subject matter, but seems to fall a little flat.

The art is where Baugh shows the most potential. The designs range from photo referenced to cartoony. Amazingly enough, the different kind of characters work. The black and white of the lines and the varied textures give the book a wood etched feel making you think that the action may happen in the Victorian age, but a fifties model sedan complete with Batmobile wings dashes hopes of it being a period piece. Maybe all burlesque bars have women dressed up like they are going to Renaissance Fair, but a little confused as to what the dark ages time period is.

Again that brings us to the details, because that is where the story excels. The town where the preacher knows a new face for possible membership into his congregation at the Holy Light Church has a Burlesque club. It makes for a hard to pin down area and time period that is intriguing and original enough to have me back for the second issue and gets a tentative recommendation.