Trogs #1

Trogs #1

American Mythology Productions 2021

By Richard Bonk

Superstar illustrator Richard Bonk (Hatchet, Beware the Witch's Shadow), delivers a startling new vision of savage action and visceral horror. In a prehistoric world, a lone warrior struggles to return a lost girl to her people. Surrounded by enormous dinosaurs and bloodthirsty monsters, they will discover if his strength and her faith are enough to overcome the horrifying demons that wait to devour them. This is the independent horror comic event of the year! Trogs #1 is available with two covers, both by Richard Bonk.

I really want this be a series of limited-series because this was absolutely amazing. Though the only thing I would change is that if the women in this can be nude then we can see the men being shown fully as well. The opening here is spectacular and how we see the events play out engages the readers mind, imagination and creativity which in turns cause them to want to see and learn more. It does exactly what it is supposed to do and I love that, and I adore that its crafted in such a way is able to really send shivers of fear and excitement down the readers spine.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. The character development that we see is interesting to say the least and that’s mainly because there isn’t a whole to the characters at this stage of human development. It is burgeoning yes but it really is fight, kill, mate and so forth. Still I have to say this may appear simple but simple is always the hardest thing to do and do it well so that this is brilliantly done. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story alongside the twists & turns along the way is great to see.

I am in total love with the interiors here. The black & white style is the most unforgiving there is and yet it is also the most rewarding because the sheer level and quality of detail work that we see throughout the book is mindbogglingly brilliant! The linework with its varying weights and techniques is exquisitely laid down and then to see the blacks and gray tones throughout for the shading it all has this immaculately clean look to what we see. The creativity and imagination is gorgeous and how the creatures are brought to life is thrilling to me. How we see the backgrounds being utilised as well as how we see them work within the composition of the panels bringing us depth perception, that sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the book is magnificent. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such masterful eye for storytelling. One of the most impressive things about this book is the sheer fact that if you stripped the words away you’d be able to perfectly understand the entire story by the visuals alone.

Sledge is a great character and to be honest I’d love to see more of his adventures. He’s got neither that quite caveman or neanderthal quality about him but the beginnings of a great hero and adventurer about him. Also that we see Trogs and see how they live and proliferate the landscape it wouldn’t be a bad thing to see him being on a mission to wipe them out. Or course there was a moment after a Trog bit him that I thought maybe he was going to be raped as well which I would’ve found much more interesting but hey I’m not sure exactly what was happening there but I’d like to see more.

This is one of those books where the snippet is never enough. I want more and even if it isn’t with Sledge but others living at this time finding themselves in a fight for their lives against the Trogs would be a welcome sight.