Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Amazon Purchase & Review - Part I: Egg Story


Amazon rocks. It offers a huge selection of graphic novels for far less than cover price, which is why I order all my trades there. It also helps me find stuff that I’d never be able to get at my not-actually-that-local comics shop, because they don’t have much variety there, unfortunately.

My latest Amazon order, which arrived a few weeks ago, included four fantastic gems of sequential artistry: Egg Story, Scurvy Dogs, Street Angel, and Doom Patrol vol. 2: The Painting that Ate Paris. They aren’t really all that current, but I missed out on all the singles, and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The fuss was well-deserved. And now that I have taken the time to digest these awesome comics, I shall, well, review them. Because that’s apparently what bloggers do, or something.

First up? Egg Story (click to view it on Amazon). This little (literally... the book is roughly the size of a DVD case) 64-page black-and-white graphic novella from Slave Labor Graphics (quickly becoming one of my favorite publishers) came out a year ago, and was lauded by critics, but then, sadly, promptly forgotten about. I stumbled onto it on Amazon by accident, remembered the good reviews, and bought it. It’s only $3.95, and worth every penny.

Egg Story, like the title states explicitly, is a story about eggs. These eggs decide to escape from the fridge so that they won’t be killed and eaten by the psychopath that’s holding them hostage. After that, it turns into a coming-of-age story about falling in love, experiencing murder and suicide, going shopping, finding a job, and becoming a ninja.

This is a book about raw humanity and self-transformation, dressed up to be a charming slice-of-life tale about eggs trying to find their place in the world. At times, it’s laugh-out-loud funny, and at other times, scary, and while there are seemingly-ridiculous plot elements (talking eggs, ninja eggs, etc.), it is very down to earth and true to life. It shows the cruelties of the world, but also the wonders.

This would make a fantastic CGI movie, as it’s quick, funny, dramatic, and teaches a moral lesson. Egg Story is so relentless charming and wonderful that even my 84-year old grandmother liked it! I highly recommend it… though, after reading it, you might never eat another egg again.

Links:

The Official Egg Story Website.
Eight page preview courtesy of Slave Labor Graphics.


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