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Little, Troy – Chiaroscuro #6

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Chiaroscuro #6

If you’ve read a bunch of these reviews, well, then this is just going to be another one with me praising the comic. That’s just to save you a few minutes if you’re only scanning this to see if I hate the book now or something. The strength of this series is that every issue that I’ve seen so far has existed perfectly well on its own, yet adds beautifully to a much more impressive whole if you read them in a row. That’s what this is supposed to be at its core, I think, and he’s doing an incredible job of it so far. And for all you lazy (or poor) folks out there, this is #6, so a graphic novel probably isn’t too far away, if there’s any justice in the world. This one is all about Steve, basically just going about his day. It sort of reintroduces a character I thought was only there for a brief spell anyway, but you get no more than that out of me. If you haven’t checked this out yet, I’ll say this until I’m blue in the face but check it out already!

Little, Troy – Chiaroscuro #4

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Chiaroscuro #4

Yes, I just might review every one of these that comes out. Why do you ask? It was obvious with the ending of the last issue that things were about to heat up, and this issue laid the groundwork for what could be a real comics epic. We get to see an interrogation of the main character and find out that we know even less about him than we thought. After I read #3, I thought that I should probably go out and get #2 to see what I’d missed. After reading this one, getting that has moved to the top of my priorities list for after my move. He’s keeping his schedule and everything about the book is thoroughly entertaining so far, so what not buy the first couple of issues and see what you think? Actually, if he keeps this up there should be a collection out by next year, so maybe you can catch up on the whole thing then. If you don’t you’re missing out…

Little, Troy – Chiaroscuro #3

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Chiaroscuro #3

If I wasn’t sure where he was going before, I have even less of an idea now. Granted, I missed the second issue somehow, but both of the ones I’ve read have been fairly self contained, so it hasn’t made that much of a difference. This one is a “morning after” issue with Steven having an awkward conversation with a random female that he apparently picked up the night before. A lot of people would probably give up on a book after three issues these days if they didn’t see some kind of immediate payoff, and I feel sorry for those people. I’ve liked a lot of what he’s had to say in the bits that I’ve seen, what’s to make me think that I won’t like where the whole giant (30-50 issues, he says) story is headed? The art is incredible, the dialogue is authentic, and the fact that I already missed an issue tells me that he’s keeping a solid schedule. The only word of caution I have for him (assuming that he ever reads this) is to stay focused. I saw an ad in the back of #3 for a new series from him, and that’s really the sort of thing that should wait until he makes a name for himself, or this story might just fall apart. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing, but if Chiaroscuro goes to being published twice a year or something because of his new book, he might never get a solid audience. Anyway, count me in for the long haul. I had a good feeling about this right away and didn’t see anything here to change my mind. $2.75, contact info above.

Little, Troy – Chiaroscuro #2

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Chiaroscuro #2

I finally get to fill in the missing piece. Troy was kind enough to send this to me so I can have the whole story, but it turns out that I didn’t miss as much as I thought I would have here. #3 starts off with Steve and a random girl, but it turns out that you don’t learn much about her here either. Other than that you have some more of the great dialogue, but not much advancement of the story. I’ve already said that I’m willing to wait to see what happens, so that doesn’t mean that I’m complaining over here. If and when this comes out as a graphic novel, if you’re unwilling to keep up with the regular issues, pick it up to see what you were missing. This guy could be a major talent if he keeps this kind of stuff up…

Little, Troy – Chiaroscuro #1

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Chiaroscuro #1

Not enough people are doing continuing stories these days. Oh sure, if you look at the numbers plenty of people are doing them, but most people are doing them at such a slow rate that you have to re-read the older issues each time a new one comes out just to keep up with the story. Troy Little looks like he was inspired by the greats of continuing stories with this one. It’s hard to say too much about the title this early on. I don’t know how much he has planned or where it’s going. If you look at this one, very little happens. The main character muses about his life, goes to visit a friend mostly to smoke his pot and get some free coffee, and thinks that he sees a strange woman on the walk home. All in all, not much to go on. It’s just the feeling that I get with this one more than anything. I can’t help but think that he has all kinds of stuff planned for this and I, for one, can’t wait to see it. If you’re the impatient type you might want to wait until a few issues are out, but if you like getting in on the ground floor of stuff, I have the distinct impression that this is going to be good. Did I mention that I like the art too? Ah, what do I know? Box Office Poison was one of my favorite books of the year, and that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case for most people. This just looks like it has the potential to do reality well and I love that stuff. It’s $2.75, send him your money at: P.O. Box 39040, 2269 Riverside Dr., Ottawa, Ont., K1H 1A1 Canada. Check out his website for samples too!

Little, Troy – Chiaroscuro #5

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Chiaroscuro #5

The number of quality comics that are being put out on a regular basis these days makes this site almost too easy. The point of this was to constantly find new people. and here I am stuck on the ones I already know that I like. Oh well… Anyway, this is another solid issue. It’s almost entirely set in a coffee shop, which shows off Troy’s gift for dialogue yet again. I like how this series isn’t afraid to take some time to set things up right. Unless he has no idea where he’s headed at all, then this series is going to get dull at some point. Something about this whole storyline leads me to believe that he has big things in store though, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. I also loved the dialogue with the customer, but that’s probably just because of my time working in a coffee shop. I still think this is a solid series and I still think that people should pick this up, what more do you want from me?  Contact info is way up there under #1, so send the man some cash.