The year is 1934, and in such hard financial times a father will do anything to provide for his family, even if that means wandering into caves and stealing baby dragons from their mothers. All in all, it sounds only moderately more dangerous than working in a factory at that time, but when the father goes up in flames, his young son, Enrico, must learn to becomes the man of the house. So opens Four Eyes, a new series debuting from Image Comics. At once a modernist fantasy and historical critique, the real heart of this issue is Enrico’s hastened journey to adulthood and the corresponding questions that spring up in the wake of his father’s death.

When dealing with fantastical creatures set in an otherwise historically accurate period, there can be a tendency on the author’s part to explain the rules of the world, to lay out the new reality for the readers. This tendency can make for some excruciatingly slow openings, and Joe Kelly, for the most part, avoids these easily made mistakes. Issue #1 is plot driven, and while we don’t get a glimpse of the title character, there’s too much else going on for that to be a complaint. The wake scene, in particular, is masterfully written, drawn, and colored, and if that’s what we’re in for with Four Eyes I’ll gladly follow.

On the other hand, some of the more atmospheric scenes seem a bit gratuitous and drain some energy from the story. Any of them would be fine on their own, but four pages of nothing but depression era Queens is a bit much. The writing also loses a bit of its punch here as Kelly gets a little too sentimental. Enrico doesn’t say or do anything surprising until the penultimate page, though when he does Kelly pulls it off well.

Overall, the art and coloring are great throughout, the pacing is good, but the writing has momentary lags. I also found the cover price to be a bit steep at $3.50 for a standard length issue, but to be fair we’re dealing with a talented and cohesive team. If they can play to their strengths and keep this story rushing forward I could easily see myself touting the next issue as a must-have.

---

What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!

---