#williamperkin

I just finished reading Eric Grissom and William Perkin’s “Gregory Suicide”, their first graphic novel published by Dark Horse Comics, and I wanted to help get the word out with a short review about this great story with NJ roots.  Its a 142 page, sci-fi story, hard bound into a book that was released earlier this month.

I’m a fan of Grissom’s work and he is one of the local NJ comic creators that inspired me to start making my own comics. I first read the beginnings of the Gregory Suicide world in January of 2016 when Grissom and Perkins released a one-shot G.S. story on Comixology. It’s this prologue story that got them noticed by Dark Horse Comics. (Read it here: http://ericgrissom.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=494a801297cd587309e96a415&id=7c70fd20a5#_=_)

“G.S.” takes place in a near future where crime and terrorism have been reduced by the replacement of human police and military personnel with synthetic human vessels.  A private corporation’s Artificial Intelligence program known as GEMINI, is loaded onto  these look-alike “slabs” that are all connected telepathically through “Morphic Field Communication”.  The story begins with the mysterious activation and escape of a vessel containing the original, non-M.F.C. version of the A.I. program known as Gregory Suicide. Gregory was decommissioned and archived over thirty years ago as an obsolete espionage agent that earned his name by the manner in which he would “deactivate” himself to avoid capture after completing a client’s mission. The story follows Gregory as he recovers his memories and finds his purpose in completing one final mission.

Grissom and Perkins do an excellent job of creating this world, using enough detail to bring it to life without slowing down the narrative. I like Perkins drawing style and it’s a good fit with the story.  The monotone color washes give a distinct style to the art work that is effective in differentiating between the present and flashbacks as well as other virtual realities. It can be a challenge to story telling and communicating mood when the color palette is restricted in this manner and I wished at times that I could see a greater variation in the hues to more easily recognize the different characters and have a better feel for the shift between different scenes as well as day/night.  Pink spot color is used though as a great effect for emotional focus and impact throughout the story. Grissom does a good job in lettering the book but the choice of not outlining the word balloons made a few panels difficult for me to read when the contrast with the background was low.  My preference too is for a cleaner panel grid layout with white space to rest my eyes so I was distracted at times by the choice of using graduated or mid-tones in the gutters, especially on the night scenes where there were already a lot of mid to darker tones. Music is important in many of Grissom’s other works and its inclusion here adds another dimension that makes these characters real and their story more enjoyable.

This book delivers on the the promise of a well crafted story and in the end there are many more questions to be answered and more of the history of Gregory to be revealed so I look forward to reading more Gregory Suicide.  Congratulations Eric and William!  

- submitted by G.R. Lear 12/27/17 @unlimitedwondercomics