An urban comic collective of the highest degree, Glass Eye looks pretty pro with its glossy cover and smudgy newsprint innards. But can it pass the acid test of keeping one’s attention fifty frames in? All signs point to yes. Assorted superhero guts and gore, the sad saga of an aging rocker and an angsty contrast between Nietzsche and Wagner are just some of the themes you’ll see explored. But perhaps more engaging is the thoughtful bio of Glass Eye’s creator Mark Innes that fills the back end. Innes works as an extra for stage and screen, and has filled in the angles on a number of big budget productions including Cinderella Man and Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The stories are fun but it’s only when you go back and re-read the comics that Mark Innes himself is somehow reflected in many of the characters he draws. It’s not an apples-to-apples rendering but there are some similarities that are just too obvious to ignore. Hardly the first time a creator has locked himself into his own frame but when reality and make-believe can co-exist in perfect unison like this, a lot of credit must go to the maker. (Cameron Gordon)
Comic, Mark Innes, 36 pgs., $5 (includes postage), Blind Bat Press, 21 Duke St., #401, Hamilton, ON, L8P 1W8, www.markinnes.com, [email protected]