Elephantmen #24 - Walking Wounded- Review

Publication Date: March 2010

Writer: Richard Starkings

Art: Moritat

Colors: Gregory White

Stats: 24 pages / 86 panels / 3.6 panels per page

Review: Another somewhat tardy review (but not as bad as some others) due to the vagaries of shipping......

I'll just go ahead and say that Elephantmen is one of the best series out there. This whole series is about exploring the meaning of humanity by looking at things through the eyes of these half-human, half-animal individuals who were bred as killing machines. Whether they be rehabilitated or whether they will always be a mortal danger to those around them are the major questions of the series.

From a story standpoint, this issue kicks off nicely with a new theme: The Elephantmen have mostly reformed. But, they seem to have some hard wiring that allows sinister elements to switch the killing machines inside them back on. And, of course, there are always going to be sinister elements who want huge and powerful killing machines.

This story wasn't full of huge revelations, but it did have great art (again). Nice job by Moritat. You can just look at a few of the panels for a long time and take in all the extra detail. I'm also consistently amazed at how well he is able to convey the mood of an animal through facial expression and body posture. Most books with humans don't do such a nice job.

The artists have changed on this title over the years and even the look of the book has changed, but the art is always awesome. That is one thing that I DO love about creator driven projects. They aren't afraid to skip a month and would rather have it ship good and late than on-time and haphazard. So, I think you're always getting a "best effort" on creator driven projects. Probably doesn't hurt that they own all the rights and want to make their project look good too. :)

[An aside on this issue: I really love that they've gotten away from the flip-book style on this title. As readers of this blog know, I'm into binding my comics and pulling apart the early issues of Elephantmen was a real pain. Binders are a really small minority, but I do appreciate it.]

Score: Another good, solid issue of Elephantmen. If you're not reading this, you should! 7.8/10