Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Pirate Eye: Pirate's Life One Shot Review


PIRATE EYE: PIRATE'S LIFE
(One-Shot)
Written by John Grahn
Art by Carl Yonder
Action Labs Entertainment



FLIPPING THROUGH:

            We get a former pirate who left the life in order to become a private investigator. We get his backstory while the back drop of him finishing up one job to take another. Smithy gets ‘drafted’ to find a thief who stole a copy of a map, working with both the Pirate Ship and the man who seems to run the town he lives in.

            The deal gets more twisted as Smithy figures out that his prey could have left in only 2 ships which then leads to an interesting twist at the end.


ART:

            Yonder draws and colors a dark tale full of intrigue. Many of the tones are dark. Yet, it fits the overall story. Being a private detective is gritty business much of the time. And with the time frame and fact that pirates are involved, it fits the world and story very well. Smithy looks like a man who knows a lot but is haggard because of his past.

            And while normally, I would say that the books tones are a little too dark, it actually complements the story even more. Dark tones giving the story the right atmosphere. The characters, with the rough pencils and dark inks, look distinct and interesting. Pirates and criminals and swindlers fill the pages with a colonial background and Yonder renders these beautifully. A wonderful job by Yonder.


WRITING:

            Grahn writes an intriguing premise; a former pirate who left the pirate’s life to be a private detective to use his abilities to find out people’s secrets. Smithy was shunned for his skills but are putting them to go use. Yet, it seems he still has his share of “interesting” people on land and sea. Grahn makes a strong lead in Smithy with an interesting history.

            The Story itself worked at a wonderful pace. Nothing dragged. The story seemed to move along flawlessly. And the twist … ah, the glorious twist at the end. Smithy is very smart but you start realizing how smart at the end of the book. The other characters give a great view of the world that Smithy lives in.

            This story really made use of the tropes of pirates, the setting and the tone which Grahn masterfully played with. A brilliantly written one shot by Grahn.


OVERALL IMPRESSION:

            Grahn and Yonder give us a peak inside a very authentic yet intriguing world of Pirate Eye. The concept is fresh. The characters feel very real. The story was paced to near perfection. The dialogue was real and not campy. The art was superb. A very, very strong showing. I want more of Smithy’s adventures after this one. Pirate Eye is one of the best high concept comics I have read in years!


RATING:

            I give Pirate Eye as 9 out of 10.  Read it now then demand for more!



2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for reviewing Pirate Eye! Very glad to hear you liked the book, thank you again for all of your support!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for making such an awesome book.

    ReplyDelete