By Marty Mulrooney
FOOTPRINTS is a creator-owned comic book mini-series written by Joey Esposito (the Comics Editor for IGN) with art from Jonathan Moore (FUBAR). An inventive twist on the noir genre, FOOTPRINTS stars Mr Foot, aka Bigfoot, as a world-weary detective trying to find out who killed his brother, Yeti, in a cryptozoological mystery that spans decades. In FOOTPRINTS #2, we learn more about Yeti’s past and his relationship with his brother as the plot continues to thicken and more heads roll…
FOOTPRINTS #2 begins on September 2nd, 1945 in a New York City bar. Mr Foot – an ultra-cool visual blend of Rick Deckard and Chewbacca – is having a quiet drink with his brother Yeti, who is still very much alive with his head firmly upon his shoulders. They return to the Foot Bros. Detection and Recovery office to find a beautiful woman – femme fatale alert! – waiting for them, complete with huge, moth-like wings. Yeti couldn’t see it. Maybe he didn’t want to. This woman inspired 100% unfiltered bad luck. Yeti’s was that he fell head over heals in love with her. Maybe mine was that I could never admit it. Of course, they take her case. The narration is still as hardboiled as ever: noir drips from each page.
I cannot emphasise enough just how much the stylised black-and-white artwork continues to blow me away despite FOOTPRINTS #2 arriving over six months after issue #1. There is an inherent realism to the art style that makes a bigfoot detective and his equally bizarre crew – the Jersey Devil, the Loch Ness Monster and Megalodon, a giant shark – seem entirely plausible and 100% based in reality.
The continually unfolding storyline proves as intriguing as ever, with the previously mentioned flashbacks into Mr Foot’s past contrasting beautifully with the developments taking place in the present as he searches for answers. Meanwhile, Mr Devil has been kidnapped and is being beaten to within an inch of his life in a sequence that is undoubtedly the standout of the issue, the use of shadow creating both a highly memorable image and a plot point that will no doubt have serious repercussions in FOOTPRINTS #3.
FOOTPRINTS was recently picked up by comics publisher 215 Ink and I couldn’t be happier for the creators. Joey Esposito and Jonathan Moore have taken a risky concept and developed it into something that is beautiful, engrossing and wholly worthwhile of any comic book readers’ time. As with FOOTPRINTS #1, my only complaints – if you can even call them that – are the brevity of the reading experience – again, only 23 pages – and how the ending makes you want to read the next issue straight away. FOOTPRINTS #2 maintains the high standard set by the debut of the series, and is quite possibly the only place you’ll ever see the Loch Ness Monster acting like a slut. Fantastic!
9 OUT OF 10
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