SHOT CALLERZ
Published By: ONI Press
Written By: Gary Phillips
Art By: Brett Weldele
SHOT CALLERZ, from what I can tell, is a one-off collection of four comic issues which came out in 2002/2003. It does not seem like there is a volume 2 to this so I am assuming this is all that the series has to offer. What it does have to offer is fairly standard and will make fans of the genre feel right at home but it is anything but unique. Which, depending on what you’re looking for, could be either welcomed or not.
The story is a rather routine one of betrayal and subsequent revenge. There is a heist that is reference and a whole lot of backstabbing. It plays out like any Ed McBain novel that you can pick up, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The story is engaging, even if uninspired, and it moves really briskly. There are times when the story attempts to be more clever than it actually is and that ends up hurting it. There is nothing wrong with telling a conventional story if you allow it to be just that. Throwing an obvious wrench into the workings of those conventions just makes the story look desperate to stand out, when it does not really need to.
The writing is solid here. There is a lot more dialogue than narration, which is not bad considering that the dialogue works well, but the story would definitely have benefited from more present narrative boxes. The language seems natural enough and is believable coming from the story’s characters. It is rather text heavy though and at times the text bubbles have a tendency to disrupt the art to a rather staggering extent.
The art is all black and white and has a sketchbook-esque aesthetic that helps set it apart from other similar books. This is not the most detailed work you will see out there but the absence of detail actually works in its favor, especially considering how much the text interrupts it all. One thing worth noting: the credits list that there being a “color special” which implies that some of this work may have originally been published in color. If so, it is not represented as such here, so fans of the book may want to seek out that issue if it is in fact different from what is collected here.
SHOT CALLERZ does not bring anything new to the table but it is hard to fault it for that when it does what it does this well. The story is at its best when adhering to the conventions that it is working with. When it deviates from these conventions it becomes too self aware and implodes, if only for a short while. The uncommon approach to the art helps to compliment the writing nicely and breathes life into something that may have just felt dead on arrival. Recommended for fans of CRIMINAL and any other crime/noir related books.
Related articles
- Oni Press at Free Comic Book Day! (graphicpolicy.com)
- Shpilkes (One-Shot) (comicsforge.com)
- Grimm Fairy Tales: Beyond Wonderland #5 (comicsforge.com)
