Written by Arcudi with art by Harren and Stewart
Image Comics has been on an incredible roll with new series this past year. New offerings like The Wicked + The Divine, Black Science, and Low are my most anticipated issues of every month. Their new release “Rumble”, their latest foray into the fantasy genre has captured my attention and is a great setup for what may be another great story in this ambitious company’s collection of new and exciting universes.
The series is being billed as “Louis C.K. meets Robert E. Howard in a David Fincher universe.” The description is fairly spot on.
The story starts with lovelorn and desperate bartender, Bobby, breaking up a massacre of a barfight between an ancient scarecrow warrior god and a deadbeat drunk that may be more than he appears. Claiming thecomedically giant and unwieldy sword of the hay filled deity as his own, Bobby finds himself pulled into a situation that the narrator of David Fincher’s fight club would describe as “Jacks sense of instant regret”
The artwork of this issue does a great job of depicting the fragility of its human characters. The characters, if not skinny emaciated looking stalks on long spindly legs and arms are instead globular sacks of dirty mashed potatoes with homemade tattoos. Seriously nothing in this book looks like it smells good which is kind of part of its charm. The city looks like it could fall apart at any minute just like the lives of its inhabitants. The introduction of two grotesque demons and a murderous medieval scarecrow actually are an improvement to the town and make me excited to see what they are doing there that makes the grimy, depressing looking place so important to them.
I’m looking forward to seeing this universe expand in the coming issues and hope that it lives up to the same excellence that Image has been putting out lately.
Posted by: Levi Bushue