Nanny & Hank #1
Bluewater Comics
Miller, Babb, and Plascencia
I’ve got admit I’m not the biggest fan of Bluewater comics, they just don’t always do the best job at making a good comic. And I’m also not normally the biggest fan of horror comics. But…something about this comic caught my eye (and it wasn’t the cover art.) The description just sounded interesting of a golden age couple trying to enjoy their retirement…and then they meet a blood-drunk vampire. I mean it just sounds so different doesn’t it? No young, hip, hot people being turned into vampires. Nope you get a couple of old folks whose life takes a turn for the weird.
Our story begins in a bar with Rondo telling O’Neil that he’s had enough to drink. And what does the bar look like? Well your average bar of course–torches in the background, men wearing long coats, women looking like worn out hookers from the 1700’s, and people being brought out for the patrons to drink. Oh, did I forget to mention that it was a vampire bar? Well keep that in mind…but for now the story shifts to Hank and Nanny, a golden age couple getting ready to for a trip to visit their grandkids and renting an RV for the trip down. But Hank’s running a bit late for his anniversary dinner with Nanny and he accidentally runs into O’Neil…literally. And that’s when Nanny and Hanks’ life take a turn for the weird. How will they deal with this change? Only time will tell.
I like this story, it’s such an interesting and different concept. This issue doesn’t give us a lot of action, because they’ve chosen to create the backstory (well some of it) and the characters first…which I think is a great thing. By the end of the issue we get to feel like we really know who Nanny and Hank are and we can almost imagine them walking down the street. And even though it’s a horror comic, it feels like it will have some sense of reality to it. One thing that does bother me about this issue is the uneven transitions between the bar and Nanny & Hank. It took me a while to understand why they were showing night/morning/now/then in the boxes. it works, but you have to read through the issue first and I just wonder if there might be a better way to do that. I do think they get a bit long winded with some aspects of the story, such as O’Neil in the bar where he rants about the council, but it feels like this will be important so I’ll bear with it.
While the artwork at first glance, especially from the cover, seems to be a bit lacking in form and skill, it started to grow on me by the end of the issue. It’s different. In some ways it reminds me of the comic Tranquility and Chew, especially in terms of application of color. It makes the characters and the world come alive. The characters are very angular in the way they’re drawn, except for their hands which don’t quit look real, but it works really well with the story. And I like how it looks. There’s just something that’s visually appealing about it.
Although the story is just beginning I like what’s there so far and the direction that the comic seems to be headed. I would recommend this series for fans of horror, vampires (real vampires not sparkly ones) and others. I’d like to see where the story goes so I’ll definitely be giving the second issue in the series a try to find out what happens to Nanny and Hank next.
