Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Guest Review: Honey West and Kolchak #1

Glen Davis is here with a guest review of a new series that teams up two classic TV shows:

I remain a fan of Moonstone Comics despite their very intermittent publishing schedule.

The company teams up two of its more successful licensed properties in this series: the hard boiled private eye Honey West and the supernatural reporter Kolchak.

While the two seem an unlikely duo, the story makes it work by setting the story during the '70s, when Kolchak was little more than a copy boy. This inexperienced version of Kolchak is certainly novel, and helps fill in the gaps of Kolchak's history. Honey West seems a bit tougher than usual, but we'll chalk that up to the influence of action movies.

The two meet while investigating an analogue of the old Playboy clubs, and find something evil behind the hedonistic veneer.

Not bad. I'm not sure the art cariacture of Kolchak fits, as Darren McGavin was playing Mike Hammer on television during the '50s, and he didn't much resemble the callow youth, but that's a quibble of the smallest category.

Overall, a quality effort that makes both characters look good.

Grade: A-

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4 comments:

Ronn Sutton said...

Just thought I'd mention that the story is not set in the 1950s, but around 1970 just as Kolchak is starting his newspaper career. The opening page has Burt Reynolds playing on a colour tv in the background and I took great pains to draw 1970s fashions and cars (like the simulated wood-panel station wagon on p 27). Glad you enjoyed it, though
----Ronn Sutton

Chuck said...

Whoops! Thanks for the correction, Ronn - I'll fix that in the review.

Glen Davis said...

My mistake. I guess I just assumed that the story was taking place during the actual times of the shows.

Chuck said...

No problem, Glen - that's why the put erasers on pencils. ;-)

(And trust me, I've made much bigger mistakes than that one!)