Flower Eater Issue One

By Will Kirkby
chamonkee.livejournal.com

24 hour comics are curious things. I think they're really more about going out and just doing something. Making comics (or zines, or whatver) instead of sitting around thinking about making them. (This is advice I should really take more, as I wonder why I've only made one zine in the last four months.)

However, one of the "rules" of 24 hour comics (such that the are) is that you have to go into the comic without any plot plans. This does seem to lead to lots of comics where things just happen one after the other without reason, then either get wrapped up in some ridiculous manner or just stop, leaving you wonder what's going to happen next. This isn't to say there aren't some awesome 24 hour comics (or that you can't make your 24 hour comic part one, I mean look what Kevin Cannon did), but that you often end up with comics that kind of meander and don't really go anyway.

And that's pretty much what you get out of Kirkby's comic. People eat flowers to gain powers, there's a bunch of fight scenes, a talking cat, a giant, talking frog, and...that's it. There's clearly a massive world with lots of backstory here, and Kirkby's art is something I generally enjoy (though some parts of this seemed a bit weaker than some of his other work, understandably so), but it just falls a bit flat.

As part of a larger work it would probably do just fine, but as a stand alone comic, with no apparent sequel coming it's a bit disappointing. The wrap-around cover is really good though.