Elephantmen #33 – Review

By: Richard Starkings (writer) & Shaky Kane (artist)

The Story: Starkings and Kane bring us an Elephantmen-themed take on Pygmalion.

What’s Good: I had totally forgotten that Shaky Kane was providing guest art on this issue.  True, Kane’s guest-art role been teased in the backs of various Image publications for the last couple months, but it didn’t really sink in that it meant THIS issue.

But, as soon as you look at the cover, you say, “Ohhhhh…  Shaky Kane.  I like Shaky Kane.  He was the guy who did such a bang up job on The Bulletproof Coffin miniseries.  This should be an awesome take on the Elephantmen.”  And, he really delivers.  It just goes to show how cool it is to have artists with their own unique artistic style because you won’t find more dissimilar artists than those who have worked on Elephantmen: Moritat, Ladronn, Marian Churchland, Boo Clark, Axel Medellin, Shaky Kane, Chris Bachalo.  I might be leaving one out, but I think that’s all and they’ve all nailed it in their own way.  It also illustrates how painful it can be in Big 2 superhero comics when a new artist comes on and attempts to ape the style of the previous artist.  Kane is in no way trying to emulate Axel Medellin.  We get classic Kane: rumply, slightly cartoony figures, bright and bold flat colors and wonderful storytelling.