Snapshot: The Simplest Fantastical Story Ever?

Well now, what do we have here, its a new comic of course!  Or to be precise it is the first issue of 'Snapshot' from Image, the first of four it seems, by way of Andy Diggle, and Jock, you may remember them from a little thing called 'The Losers'? I'll do my best to refrain from spoilers, but I am not always accountable for my words, so the risk is yours and since this is only the first issue at least I wont ruin the ending. I hope.

Now, onto what this comic is actually about and I should point out that I went in to this comic knowing nothing about what it was about except the cover, the name and the creators. I found it to be wonderfully refreshing, though that could just be my bias for comics speaking, especially since the main protagonist, no one special, just your slightly cooler than normal nerd who works in a comic book store and we spend a lot of the first issue there.

There is no magic, no super powers, no advanced technology, nothing out of the ordinary, or so it seems, certain plot elements point to something mysterious, but we don't know if this is super in nature, or just very clever misdirection and conspiracy  Personally I'm hoping for the latter. This is a down to earth story, at  least in comparison to many other works out there and its not hard to find your self imagining it actually happening. I like to think of this as a fictional work of a real world possibility  so far at least, things may take an increasingly wild turn.

Now for that other crucial aspect, and possibly more important(?) aspect of a comic book the art work. Now, I'll admit to being hesitant when I first picked it up due to its distinct lack of colour, and I am ashamed to admit that, I expect abuse to follow shortly. However, I can safely say that being a black and white comic has in no way dampened my enjoyment of it, if anything it has only pushed the book higher up in my opinion. Jock's work is excellent, clear and enticing, not too clean to be clinical, and not to messy to be confusing, its right in the middle. Also, regarding the lack of colour, I found it made the reading that much easy, not as much going on to distract the eye and mind from the meat of the book, the story and the characters. All of which allows for a far better reading experience.

So overall, an excellent comic with a lot of potential, and I've no doubt it will live up to it all. Both story and artwork go hand in hand to provide a unique experience that only Jock and Andy Diggle can provide.

What Would Doom Do?

After reading it twice and spending an hour or so making a mind map of ideas for how the story could be explained he would then lie in front of the TV on his front, legs waving in the air as he happily colours in the pages with his crayons, because even Doom likes to colour. And since he is evil he also gets to destroy some great artwork, damn that Doom. Though that is a good reason to buy two copies...