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CBG SATELLITES
The ADD Blog by Alan David Doane
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Elk's Run - Bumper Edition
...and that's where everything hits the fan. Hardly surprisingly, Elk's
Ridge is Utopia no longer; the seeds of conflict between families,
between generations, and between Elk's Ridge and the outside world have
been sown, and we can only wait for future issues to find out where this
story will take us. So far, the creators have built a world for their
characters that, despite the fantastic premise, is so tightly
constructed and well-plotted as to be entirely believable. Noel Tuazon's
brushwork is loose and suggestive rather than detailed and meticulous,
yet characters are well-drawn, and the reader's imagination fills in the
blanks left in the sketchy backgrounds. Scott Keating's colors, and his
pallette of rich reds, browns, and greens provide atmosphere and mood,
with a particularly noteworthy mastery of lighting in a number of
scenes. Especially effective are the dinner table scenes in the Kohler
house, which provide real insight about this family's relationships
without having to use a lot of words to tell the story.
Finally, a note on presentation - this book, apart from the top-notch
story contained within its covers, also provides even more bang for the
buck in the "extras" that are included. There's a cover gallery,
displaying Datsun Tran's great work on #1-3 and the 4th issue preview,
there's a two-page "Plot to Page" feature written by editor Jason
Rodriguez, the original proposal for the series, and finally, Scott
Keating provides a two-page coloring tutorial, detailing how he
transformed Noel Tuazon's inking into the finished product we see. This
kind of attention to detail shown by Speakeasy says a lot for the care
and attention they put into the books they produce.
All in all, I can't recommend this book highly enough, and the great
thing is, there are still five issues left. In his introduction, Steve
Niles writes, "I know we're less than halfway there, but I for one can't
wait to see where Joshua, Noel and Keating take us next." And I couldn't
agree more. Issue #4 is due to appear on store shelves at the end of
November, and I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for it.
-- Jim Witt
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I missed out on Elk's Run #1-3 in the original floppy editions
published by 
Elk's Run is set in Elk's Ridge, West Virginia, a little town cut
off from civilization by choice, not merely by circumstances. While the
story is told from several points of view, the focus is on the Kohler
family - John, Sara, and their son, John Jr. John Kohler is one of a
group of Vietnam veterans settled in Elk's Ridge after returning home
from the war. We're told that their benefactor, who hasn't appeared in
the story thus far (although I have a feeling he may show up in future
issues) had read Utopia, and Elk's Ridge is his attempt to build
his own personal Utopia. He provides the townsfolk with every necessity,
and everything appears to be going along smoothly until one of the
town's teenagers is run over by a resident who is trying to "escape." 
As for the plot itself, backstory and flashbacks are skillfully woven in
to the main narrative, and the artwork on the Vietnam flashback sequence
in Chapter 2 shows that in the hands of a capable artist, graphic detail
is unnecessary to portray the horrors of war.