Newsarama On Elk’s Run
Elk�s Run #1 and #2 From: Horse and Buggy Productions (www.horseandbuggy.com) Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov Art: Noel Tuazon Colors: Scott A. Keating Review by Troy BrownfieldOne would think that for a book to get ink in Entertainment Weekly, it would either have to be very high profile or extremely well-done. Elk�s Run falls into the latter category, a work of narrative nerve and mounting paranoia that enthralls as it mystifies. The first two issues provide excellent set-up and characterization, basically daring the reader to come back for the next twist.
Our first two issues here employ two separate narrative voices, one a young man, and the other his veteran father. They live in Elk�s Run, a West Virginia community that has severed ties with the outside world. One gets a sense of possible reasons for this self-imposed exile, but the whole story unfolds on its own terms at a mannered, yet terrifically readable, pace.
Tuazon�s art is both spare and expressive; he allows shadows to do their own suggestions, but he also has a solid command of faces. I�m reminded a bit of some classic E.C. work, where something vaguely sinister is always lurking at the outer edge of the visible panel. Keating�s coloring is excellent as well, adding to the mood with subtly chosen shades.
Like The Surrogates, this is a book that you want to recommend without explaining too much. I have a feeling that this series will inspire Lost-like discussions of the whys and hows of motivations and plots. That�s a good thing. Even better than a comic that�s a great read is a comic that inspires you to have real conversations about its intent