Pest Control #4 & 5

Posted: Tuesday, April 6, 2004
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Pest Control #4 & 5 Creator(s): Grant Springsford
Publishers: Self Published
From: UK
Price: £1 (+p&p) (UK)

Spooky super-hero daring-do goes to a new level the two issues that Grant sent us. Pest Control are a team of very odd, very maladjusted super-heroes gathered together to do away with super-normal terrorists. Things take a bad term in issue 4, and in issue 5 we learn the back story of one member - Penny Dreadful - a quite unlike-able creature who seems to possess different people and use them for her own ends, but what is her plan?

Meanwhile, back at the secret base there boss has no problem killing gigolos for security reasons but is scared of some dark corridors and the strange noises that come out of them. .

The story took a bit to decipher because there is so much going on in this series. Grant has obviously put a lot of effort into putting a cast of interesting characters into a story worthy of their skills. The books take them selves fairly seriously and give the firm impression that it has a long term plot worth following.

The artwork reflects a similar care to attention. The characters have individuality - a must for any super-hero tale. The designs are creative and make you want to find out what sort of powers they have, though in these two issues we only get to see a couple in any extended action. There's a metaphysical quality to some of the visual imagery - people turn into paper, phasing out of existence etc. the pages look interesting and can surprise the reader with their inventiveness. Occasionally amongst all of the ideas some of the basics go astray - some of the faces look a bit distorted - but not too much.

A supernatural super-hero title with lots of ideas, this book works hard to make an impression. It might be trying a bit too hard in parts - there's a limit to how many plots 21 pages can handle - but it's hard to gauge from two issues in the middle of a run weather Grant has paced things well or not. Certain to make an impression, and I'm tempted to saw worth investigating.

In a Word: Intriguing.



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