Gear. What can I say? Sometimes things are a hit sometimes a miss. Doug TenNapel is a talented a guy and he’s built up quite a fine stable of works but I’m not sure I would count Gear as one of his masterpieces.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the book and yes, before you email me and kill me I actually did understand the ’style’ he was going for. I just felt it wasn’t as ‘together’ as it could have been. Sure it was about cats, dogs and insects having a war while wearing robotic fight suits – it can’t get any better than that for pure fun……except the art left me hanging.

The dialogue in this book in hilarious, thoughtful, insightful and stupid all at once and amazingly it works. Really really well, so much so that I found the art to be detracting from the story line. Doug’s words are by far the heart of this book. It’s not a deep romp through chaotic robot madness it’s more like a free fall through an asteroid belt that eventually dumps you out with a surrealistic bump on the head. I never quite got the whole gist of the ‘Gear’ character and though he was totally lovable I didn’t feel his character was expanded on enough. I understood what his form and function were but felt he was just a walk on character in his own book. And that’s sad to me because there were moments in this story when I found myself staring in utter awe of the dialogue-all of chapter two is pure genius. But beyond there I found myself  needing to read panels several times to get what was happening. Shifting consistency sometimes works well, but very deep then artfully shallow can sometimes hurt the overall effect. Especially if the artwork isn’t there to prop up the undulations.

Maybe I’m guilty of wanting too much from this work, But TenNapel has a history of being darn consistent and flawlessly imaginative. Remember Earthworm Jim the Sega game that came out in 1994? that was TenNapels creation. I thought that character was brilliant! he was funny, tenacious and a hell of a lot of fun. Plus you bonded pretty quickly with the character. I know that sounds odd, but I WANT some bonding with my fantasy world.  I’m not saying the characters here weren’t memorable because they were in quirky sort of way I was just disappointed HOW they were rendered.  The drawings just didn’t give the characters their due. Great characters DESERVE great panels.

Now I could say I’m just not a fan of  true ‘cartoon’ style but that would be an out & out lie. So I did some research because I was a bit perplexed with the art/style choice here and that helped to shed some light on my confusion. TenNapel stated the  when he was in Japan promoting ‘The Neverhood’ he had an opportunity to see artists working with bamboo brushes so he purchased a brushed and some ink and “fell in love” with the results. Okay, this I can understand – it’s a unique look and it makes for a very organic feel and it  can convey movement in some very dynamic ways. But mixing it with modern cartooning I felt hurt the panels. It left it ‘crude’ and almost heavy handed feeling in places. Sometimes just borderline messy and I’m not being snide or pretentious here, for God’s sakes I’m a Ralph Steadman fan!  but the  bottom line here is I think the art hurt the story. Sorry Doug, I wish I could say differently but I can’t. So if art means a ton to you this one might be an annoyance, but if it’s a light hearted reflection with moments of extreme absurdity you want, this won’t disappoint.

Now, let put up a disclaimer here. To TenNapels credit I must add that the art  does reinforce the craziness of the whole book. Gear is a hell of an absurdity and the art paints it precisely so. There, now put down your blow torches you TenNapel fans and let me back quietly out of here and there will be no mayhem. Sometimes what I review just isn’t my style.

This little book isn’t hard to find, Image pressed it so it can be found in all the usual places. If you want the B&W singles be prepared to hunt. I think the graphic novel with the color added makes more of an impact; the characters come to life a bit more with the color. Also with the graphic novel you get a two page insight into Doug and his works, written  by Doug himself which I found to be valuable all on its own if you are a collector.

If you are a Schrab or Mignola fan do NOT pass on the graphic novel! Both sketch up their own versions of Waffle – Mignolas is a pure beauty.

Gear by Doug TenNapel

Published by Image Comics 2007

www. TENNAPEL.com

www. imagecomics.com