Alex Holden’s Magic Hour captures the curious mix of childhood reality and unreality. Ricky gets mixed up with Black Eye Eddie, who may or not be a zombie. The other kids are certainly sure that Eddie and his sister Carlotta are more than they seem. Ricky and his friends are focused on tagging trains and walls with lifted spray paint, but along the way they run into a few problems.
Issue one of Magic Hour is two stories in one package. The second story, “Stay Out of the Gorgon Yard,” is actually a separate 24-page mini-comic stapled into the main mini-comic. The art in “The Gorgon Yard” is light blue against a pitch black paper. This color scheme gives the story a nice creepy effect.
Alex’s art matures a bit with the second issue. His lines, more assured and confident, are thickly drawn and his backgrounds are sketched out just enough to suggest a convincing backdrop for his tales.
The second issue is part one of a story titled “Field Trip.” Ricky and Black Eye Eddie hook up with the older teen, Moose, to tag some trains. Most of the issue details the quest for spray paint, but Alex drops a tantalizing surprise on the last page of this 18-page mini.
Reading these two comics leaves you with the weird sense that anything can happen in Magic Hour. The possibilities are endless, just like that feeling you had when you were a kid running on the streets –that weird old lady’s house is most assuredly haunted, and the big old dude in the wife beater that lives down the street certainly eats children. These types of little details pop up matter of factly in Magic Hour with regularity and Alex does such a good job of telling his story that you don’t question where the story goes.
You can check out Alex's blog and pick up copies of Magic Hour for $2 at USS Catastrophe.
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1 comment:
these are so good! I really like the setting and portrayal of graffiti when it was still art/petty crime/kids having fun instead of a "culture," before nyc started cleaning subway cars religiously, etc.
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