Proof#24, the most recent issue of Alex Grecian & Riley Rossmo's Image series was recently released. Diverging wildly from what was originally solicited ("My date with Bigfoot"), this doesn't even feature Rossmo on art, instead utilizing Chris Grine. It also steps back from the main cast to tell a story about one of the minor supporting characters, a fairy boy named Joy.
I'm reminded of Bill Willingham's Fables which has often told done-in-one stories of minor Fables and with guest artists to deliver said digressions. Also like Fables, this issue takes some cues from a classic children's story, namely Pinocchio.
Joy was adopted by the Chupacabra shortly after his birth way back in Proof#5. Although the Chupacabra is a horrendous carnivore who feeds on anything, it also seems to play the part of whatever creature's skin it's currently inhabiting. Garbed in the body of a kindly mother, it's been playing the part (with many fiendish overtones) and now little Joy has decided to find his father, determined to learn if he's alive.
Those of us who recall the series lore on fairies are already assured of his father's grim fate. I'm not sure why excerpts from Pinocchio run through the story when the two tales don't seem to parallel at all. Given that Joy's quest is ultimately fruitless, the accompanying text may as well have been from Huckleberry Finn.
Grine's artwork is definitely a far cry from Riley's scratchy Sienkiewicz-influenced style; if anything, Grine seems to pine for the likes of Disney or Tezuka; check out those Astro Boy-like eyes on Joy above!
Oh, Proof#24 also has another installment of Kelly Tindall's Archie Snow! What's the good word, Archie?
Wha--? Well! Fine! Be that way! Ornery old cat...
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