Shutterbug Follies
Written and Illustrated by Jason Little
Doubleday Graphic Novels
I don’t make a fuss about hiding my dislike for all things "indie." “But, Gint, Mc$oss isn’t published by a major company, so that makes you indie.” Yeah, yeah... the irony isn’t lost on me. But that doesn’t mean just because I’M indie my natural tastes are going to change.
So when a buddy lent me Shutterbug Follies I was skeptical. By its artwork and its 9.25” x 6.5” size it just looked like an indie book. I thumbed through a couple pages and its non-traditional page layout and my hopes for liking this book were slipping away.
While it wasn’t awful, it wasn’t inspiring either. I had a hard time liking the main characters due to their trendy-hipsterness. “We eat at ultra-cool ethnic places in New York City!” Go to fucking McDonald’s. Its not gonna kill you… immediately anyway.
The most impressive parts were the backgrounds. The angles and perspective on the locations, rooms and cars were pretty sweet.
What was really odd was that it’s a brightly-colored book with a pretty light illustration style that doesn’t fit the dark subject matter of the story. There’s some gruesome visuals that would really be captured better by some shadowy, gritty art.
And like most books of this style, I felt there was some inside joke going on that I just wasn’t getting. Maybe I’m just not that highbrow. Oh well.
Shutterbug Follies gets a D+. I won’t be picking up further volumes.
-Gint
Written and Illustrated by Jason Little
Doubleday Graphic Novels
I don’t make a fuss about hiding my dislike for all things "indie." “But, Gint, Mc$oss isn’t published by a major company, so that makes you indie.” Yeah, yeah... the irony isn’t lost on me. But that doesn’t mean just because I’M indie my natural tastes are going to change.
So when a buddy lent me Shutterbug Follies I was skeptical. By its artwork and its 9.25” x 6.5” size it just looked like an indie book. I thumbed through a couple pages and its non-traditional page layout and my hopes for liking this book were slipping away.
While it wasn’t awful, it wasn’t inspiring either. I had a hard time liking the main characters due to their trendy-hipsterness. “We eat at ultra-cool ethnic places in New York City!” Go to fucking McDonald’s. Its not gonna kill you… immediately anyway.
The most impressive parts were the backgrounds. The angles and perspective on the locations, rooms and cars were pretty sweet.
What was really odd was that it’s a brightly-colored book with a pretty light illustration style that doesn’t fit the dark subject matter of the story. There’s some gruesome visuals that would really be captured better by some shadowy, gritty art.
And like most books of this style, I felt there was some inside joke going on that I just wasn’t getting. Maybe I’m just not that highbrow. Oh well.
Shutterbug Follies gets a D+. I won’t be picking up further volumes.
-Gint
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