Elephantmen is one
of those books that tend to fool people with its main story device:
Human/animal hybrids. If you actually
tear back the images put before you, Elephantmen
is one of the greatest crime fiction books on the market. It has a
deep message about racism and war and constantly battles between religion and science. This book is probably one of the smartest comics of all time and it
will only be fully appreciated years from now when someone has taken an obscene
amount of time to break down every issue and every page, much like people do to
Alan Moore’s work currently.
There’s a real intensity to each page of Elephantmen. There is no filler in these
pages and nothing is left to chance or misinterpretation. The first page opens
with a Warthog running on a roof top. On the left side his back is turned to us
and by the last panel he’s facing us head on, but it’s the middle panel that will
consume your attention. This panel in the center shows the frame of a woman
carrying two sickle clearing blades and wearing the skull of Tusk… the one tusked
Warthog killed previously. It’s clear from the movement of this woman, that she
is not running and that is fucking scary as hell. This woman is cool, calm and
collected as she hunts down this powerful Elephantman who should be able to
handle her with ease. But when we look at the page we’re absorbed to the center. All our eyes can do is watch this Warthog fleeing in our peripheral vision as this person in the center has our
full attention. By the way… we’re still on the first page.
Our next page has the Warthog jumping across the roof top
and barely making it across, more than likely due to its size and panic. We can
see that clear as day on the Warthog’s face as he jumps directly towards us…
the reader. It’s clear that if we were there, in the Warthog’s way, we would be
trampled by this frantic man. And make no mistake; he is a man and not a mere
beast. After narrowly making it across he turns his head to see how far behind
his stalker is, but what he can’t see and we can is the woman jumping over his
head at the same time… with ease.
Her skull covered face stares down at her soon to be victim
and all he can mutter is, “No it can’t be… you’re dead. Tusk is dead!” The fear
is overflowing from the Warthog’s eyes and in that exact moment you’ll ask
yourself, “What exactly did he do to deserve this?” And that is a scary thought
to have, because it means that you know he’s about to die and have associated
sympathy with him. He does in fact die as the woman strikes down with the sickle
into the brain of the Warthog. It’s not even a gory scene and yet its gut
wrenching because you just watched what’s perceived in your brain as an
innocent man die. This Warthog that you watched die has done nothing to show
you he deserved death… other than being different. Do you feel uncomfortable
yet? You should, you just witnessed a hate crime and did nothing about it.
I could very easily give you the short and sweat version of
this issue, but I won’t. That would be only presenting the face value story of
the issue and it deserves better than that. I know it seems strange to say that
considering I’ve trained myself to be able to do exactly that, but something
about this book screamed to me to just hook you in and make you want more. The
strange thing is that I didn’t even read the last issue, which was the first
part of this storyline and I don’t think I needed to either. This issue is so
powerful that it stands all on its own.
This is probably one of the greatest single issues of any
comic I’ve ever read. It haunts me it’s so good. Richard Starkings and Axel
Medellin have put together something so powerful that it makes you feel
something on every page. This killer of Elephantmen is one of the scariest
serial killers of all time and every time she’s on the page you can’t help but
feel uncomfortable. Especially since you know from the beginning of the issue
that she is going to kill again and with ease… and still you’ll be able to do
nothing about it.
The story is stimulating and perfect. The art is gorgeous
and perfect. If ever an issue deserved a perfect score, it’s this one. Buy this
book, tell your friends and enjoy a comic book that should be studied and
broken down page by page.
Score: 5/5
Writer: Richard Starkings
Art: Axel Medellin
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: 1/25/2012
Thanks so much for the review!
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