Robin’s Odyssey

Posted: Thursday, May 31, 2007
By: Steve Saville

Cover of Robin’s Odyssey Creator(s): Simon Crabb
Publishers: Self Published
From: England
Price: £2.00

This black and white 27 pager is described by the creator as “a simple tale of a little man who doesn’t want to be where he is.” The tale revolves around Robin becoming a castaway on a deserted? Island, kind of a Robinson Crusoe /Captain Bligh thing going on here. Soon after his arrival everything goes a little crazy as he encounters [I think] the female inhabitants of the island the Matrix type leader of the island, drugs and an armed sea captain fellow. I can not be sure of any of this as the storyline does get a little chaotic, especially after the drugs [Robin’s not mine I hasten to add].

This then is my primary concern about “Robin’s Odyssey,” namely that the narrative just lacks cohesion and unity, it seems to ramble and wander and ends up being just plain confusing. So as a reader I found that I had to do quite a bit of work. It is safe to say though that things don’t go well for Robin especially once everything gets a little hallucinogenic with the local mushrooms.

The art work is quite basic and straightforward. The main character is a large ink blot of hair and a couple of circles and rectangles for the rest of the body. Quite effective but when there is also an absence of background then the overall effect in this comic is quite Spartan. Cluttered pages are not a problem here.

The fact that the verbal elements are computer generated fonts placed inside fairly rigid square speech bubbles does offer a marked contrast to the sketchy art work and I am not sure that the contrast works. The two elements seem to operate alongside each other rather that inside each other.

The use of onomatopoeia is highly effective and there are some wonderful sound effects, “ptoing” and "badoing" being just two of the more memorable.

The philosophical conclusion comes a bit out of the blue but is, for me, the highpoint of the comic. The final page where the two main characters wake briefly to engage in this moment of epiphany is a great way to round off this endearing if rambling sea shanty of a tale. And I haven’t even mentioned the role that Kung Fu and space ships play in the story.

In a Word: Huh?.



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