$9.95 from Caliber
Comics
Credits:
Written by Gary &
Rhoda Shipman
Drawn by Gary Shipman
Edited by John
Mulligan, Bob Deweese, Rhoda Shipman, and James Pruett
Cover Colors by Quinn
Supplee, Poison Frog Color Design
Here’s a brief
glimpse of what a comic like PAKKINS’ LAND is up against: Periodically a stack
of graphic novels and trade paperbacks lands on my lap. In the stack will be a mess
of different types of comics- -
superheroes, science fiction, adult-oriented comics. And although I
count myself an open-minded reader, I can’t lie about the fact that I shifted
PAKKINS’ LAND to the back of the set. It was a fable, a fantasy story featuring
a young boy, a talking bear, and a glowing feather. I could put that off.
I shouldn’t have.
PAKKINS’ LAND: PAUL’S ADVENTURE is a well-told tale that manages to balance the
intimacy of one central character with the feel of a true epic. In this first
story, Paul, a young boy, apparently falls by chance through a cave and into
another world inhabited by talking beasts. He receives a gift right away from a
vision of a great, blazing eagle: a feather. No sooner does he make alliances
with a half-lion, Gus, and a large, good-natured bear, Mr. Brambles, but he
discovers that Pakkins’ Land is on the brink of apocalyptic war with a
neighboring country inhabited by nastily-dispositioned tigers. The only hope is to find the king, Pakkins, a
human who came from the same world Paul does.
What’s impressive
about the Shipman’s tale is its combination of whimsy and myth-making. Every
piece of the world they created fits together, and there is a point to every
action. We watch weak characters begin to grow strong, and evil characters suffer
as they begin to change for the better. And the characters not only change, but
they’re unique to begin with; the Shipmans have a knack for giving bears and
bats and she-wolves different personalities. Gus the lion doesn’t look like a
lion and it bothers him, but he’ll have to get past that if he wants to be a
lion. Mr. Brambles is a gentle bear with a twitchy temper who’s found himself
in charge, if only because the other leaders are missing. Paul just wants to
get home, but he’s managed to push the Land closer to war. And somewhere out
there, the King wrestles with his conscience, and wonders if he can ever
return.
This story reminds me
of Kirby’s NEW GODS, in that it strives to scratch everything we know and start
over to create a new eipc.There are no super-heroes, but there is magic and heroism
and a well-designed story. It troubles me that I shifted PAKKINS’ LAND story to
the back so I could read more super-heroics. It troubles me more that everyone
else might, too. Don’t.