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CBG SATELLITES
The ADD Blog by Alan David Doane
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The Secret Voice
Street Angel's Rugg is thanked in the notes on page one, and
whatever advice or friendship he may or may not have provided for
Soto, it's clear that Street Angel itself was an influence on
the continuing serial "Dr. Galapagos," from the page design to the
story matter. Soto takes a different narrative tack, though,
decompressing the battle scenes and creating a sense of high mystery
about the lead character that should be entertaining to watch unfold
over the future of the title.
"Day 34" suggests a Dylan Horrocks influence by way of
Bipolar's Tomer and Asaf Hanuka. The story is a dream-like
piece about isolation and purpose in life, told with powerful imagery
and a strong narrative sense.
Soto's art has a rough feel to it, especially in "Dr. Galapagos,"
where it is reminiscent in places of the paradoxically cocksure
uncertainty of an eighth-grade comic book fan doodling in his notebook
during math class. The sheer loveliness and attention to detail
elsewhere suggest that this is not an artistic deficit, but a canny
visual stylization designed to convey power and the simplicity of
graphically depicted action and violence.
Soto includes a generous amount of text, from an introductory essay on
the letters page to a page full of plugs for works by other
cartoonists he enjoys. Far from padding out the issue though, with 64
pages to luxuriate in, it adds to the feel that the reader is in the
hands of a cartoonist who not only wants to communicate with his
readers, but actually has ideas to communicate. This is a vast
improvement over the majority of new titles introduced with no text
piece at all, a warm, intimate invitation to take part in the worlds
that Soto's comics elsewhere in the issue promise to create and
sustain. Grade: 4.5/5
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Not since the debuts of Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca's Street
Angel and Salgood Sam's Revolver have I experienced a debut
that feels so much like a shot across the bow of the status quo in
comics. Soto delivers 64 packed pages in the first issue of
this new one-man anthology, with stories ranging from mysterious and
bizarre ("Dr. Galapagos Chapter One") to thoughtful and
thought-provoking ("Day 34").