I guess technically we're all creatures...

Griffith keeps saying that the website is almost ready. Matt said he would have it going as soon as we had something to post. This may make my first several posts less organic than intended but the bastard has forced my hand. I must give him something if we are to get the ball rolling. Here goes...

Creature Tech by Doug TenNapel
Published by Top Shelf

*Note about spoilers: I’m trying to review things that are obscure enough that they haven’t been reviewed a thousand times already. I understand that this means anyone reading this probably hasn’t already read the book. I will try to keep spoilers absent and simply talk about why I liked the book without giving away the reading experience.

I bought this book for three reasons. It was on sale during the Top Shelf 10th anniversary sale. I thought it was using an idea that I had come up with for one of my own projects. And the sample artwork looked amazing.

Fortunately, after reading the book I realized that the plot had very little to do with my own ideas so I breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, this book was a lot better than anything I had planned. The story follows the life of Dr. Ong, once on his way to priest-hood now scientist for the government assigned to work at the Creature Tech research facility. The facility houses all of the stuff the government couldn’t or didn’t need to figure out immediately, much like that final, infamous scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Dr. Ong’s job is to sort through all the boxes and figure out what everything is or what it can do for Uncle Sam. Everything from magical religious clothing to alien artifacts. There’s a love story that is obvious but still sweet. The villain provides laughs with his power to turn cats into demons and quest for giant flying eel which fluidly moves the story along. And, refreshingly, the character development takes some surprising twists but still maintains a coherency and believability despite the absurdity of some of the books situations.


The book is slightly oversized which makes it fun to really examine some of the fantastic artwork. TeNapel uses a heavy line and some drastic angles to set his characters apart from one another. Some black and white books strive for realism to the point of incomprehension and confusion because the characters just aren’t distinctive. But art isn’t just about characters looking different. TeNapel is clearly a gifted story-teller who planned this book well. His panel layout is dynamic and appropriate with a nice number of full page panels and a couple of two-page spreads. When the action really heats up TenNapel will even opt for the 7 or 8 panel page so the reader gets a blow by blow for the scene. I said earlier that the art prompted me to buy the book in the first place and I wasn’t let down.

Obviously I really enjoying reading Creature Tech. It read fast, but it also stuck with me and gave me some things to think about concerning scientific progress, religion and the ever cliched “going home again”. This is not the book I would have ever expected from the creator of Earthworm Jim.

-Haupt
haupt@clockworklondon.com