Kieth Giffen's art is definitely a unique style. I liked how he used it in the Lobo: Infanticide mini, so I went out and found this 4 issue mini series he did for Image in 1993. The same style of art can be found here, but it feels a little less focused. As much fun as his art is, sometimes it is extremely hard to figure out exactly what is going on in a scene or what a progression of panels is trying to show. I found there were more than a couple of times that I sat and stared at a page trying to discern exactly what was happening and what Giffen was trying to tell the reader.
One of the reasons I think that his art can come off this way is that for all of its detail, it's not really that detailed. Ok, yeah, I know that sounds weird, but it's the best way to describe it. For example, there is a sequence of panels where I think Trencher is getting kocked down a street and into the wall of a building, but I'm not sure because for all of the detail that Giffen puts into the Trencher character and his surroundings, he doesn't communicate very well what is actually happening to the character and his surroundings.
On the positive side, though, there are some really awesome one page spreads of the main character and some of his foes (one of them being Supreme). There are also a lot of little things that can be found in many of the panels that'll make you chuckle, although some won't.
As for the story... well, that's a little muddled. Basically you have some guy that is working for some organization that has some duty to kill people who have misplaced souls. It's very, very ambiguous. The character of Trencher is very much a rip off of Lobo, which makes this story feel like some writing fan fiction about Lobo, but since it's actually being published the name had to get changed. Each issue consists mostly of Lobo... err, Trencher going up against some type of cyborg or superhuman, with the final issue culminating in Trencher battling some robot/human mish mash Elvis impersonator. I think it was intended to be funny, but it just didn't work too well for me.
You can usually find this series in quarter bins all over and if you want to check out some interesting and unique art, give it a shot. If you're expecting a fleshed out and cohesive story, well, go read something else because you won't find it here.
One of the reasons I think that his art can come off this way is that for all of its detail, it's not really that detailed. Ok, yeah, I know that sounds weird, but it's the best way to describe it. For example, there is a sequence of panels where I think Trencher is getting kocked down a street and into the wall of a building, but I'm not sure because for all of the detail that Giffen puts into the Trencher character and his surroundings, he doesn't communicate very well what is actually happening to the character and his surroundings.
On the positive side, though, there are some really awesome one page spreads of the main character and some of his foes (one of them being Supreme). There are also a lot of little things that can be found in many of the panels that'll make you chuckle, although some won't.
As for the story... well, that's a little muddled. Basically you have some guy that is working for some organization that has some duty to kill people who have misplaced souls. It's very, very ambiguous. The character of Trencher is very much a rip off of Lobo, which makes this story feel like some writing fan fiction about Lobo, but since it's actually being published the name had to get changed. Each issue consists mostly of Lobo... err, Trencher going up against some type of cyborg or superhuman, with the final issue culminating in Trencher battling some robot/human mish mash Elvis impersonator. I think it was intended to be funny, but it just didn't work too well for me.
You can usually find this series in quarter bins all over and if you want to check out some interesting and unique art, give it a shot. If you're expecting a fleshed out and cohesive story, well, go read something else because you won't find it here.
Ratings
Art: 3.75
Story: 2.25
Overall: 3
Art: 3.75
Story: 2.25
Overall: 3
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