Sunday 31 August 2008

The return of Garth - and Shako?


Strangely non-trumpted by The Mirror, this month saw the long awaited revival of Garth.





Hmmmm... what to think?

Pro: Of course its brilliant that the big fella's back,

Con: but kinda wish it was in the actual paper than only online.

Pro: Reads very well and the character's captured nicely,

Con: would've preferred the 4 panel strip rather than a whole page.

Pro: Nice that they've gone back to the pre-WW2 origin

Con: but personally, i'd prefer the barrel-chested time traveller meeting melon chested damsels in distress.


The above makes me out to be rather ungrateful, but really i'm not. I'm pleased as punch he's back, it reads well, the art is very good (IS that Shako's great great grandfather?) and i hope its a success - and i look forward to the inevitable graphic novel.

But part of me that's reading it is the me that grew up on the Bellamy/Asbury version, cutting each strip out daily and pasting it in scrapbooks and therefore is always comparing.

I know there's no comparison - unless it does into the paper in strip format and the artist becomes a B/A clone.


Nice interview here over on Down The Tubes:





2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh boy, here I come, sounding like an old fart but do you really think that art is anything but a gazillion miles away in quality from classic Garth? I came across the '76 Garth annual the other day and the artwork is amazing.

Still, good that he's back. How about Axa now?

Mangamax said...

As you say, good that he's back. Yeah, the arts not patch on the original - but the spirit is there isn't it?
After the revamped Dr Who, Galactica and the endless remakes, i'm kinda resigned to reboots being only a passing shadow of their original selves.
Axa? Blimey, she was buxom and blatent back then. Gawd knows what they'd do with her now.