Blue Estate #8 – Review

By: Viktor Kalvachev & Kosta Yanev (story), Andrew Osborne (script), Kalvachev, Nathan Fox, Toby Cypress, Andrew Robinson & Peter Nguyen (art), Kalvachev (cover, colors, design & art coordination)

The Story: Now that Bruce Maddox is dead, the surviving Russian and Italian mafia members are scrambling to connect the pieces.

Five Things: 

1. Art is great. – I’m pretty picky about the art in my comics and I usually hate anything with multiple artists.  BUT, in this case we have FIVE artists on the issue and I’m loving it!  Why does this work when recent cluttered issues like Incredible Hulk #2 and Uncanny X-Men #2 stunk?  Well, for one thing, Viktor Kalvachev has assembled some heavy hitters to work on his comic.  Nathan Fox and Toby Cypress are serious, no-joke talents.  But, what makes it work so nicely is how Kalvachev knits it all together.  He’s clearly gotten a few pages from each artist, but then he colors them in such a way that the book has a very consistent look.  Now, it IS true that some of the characters don’t look exactly the same from page to page.  But, (a) this is a comic that’ll appeal to the art snobs of the world and it’s kinda fun to try to pick out who drew what and (b) someone (Kalvachev, I assume) has made sure that characters have distinct physical features regardless of who draws them.  The end result is a great looking comic, especially those Nathan Fox pages (??) with the police secretary that reminded me of Paul Pope.

2. This is one of the better debut series of 2011. – It’s time for Best of 2011 lists.  And you’re going to see a LOT of “Best new series” lists populated by comics that have released 2-3 issues.  I think that’s bullshit.  Blue Estate is delivering the goods.  Cranking out 8 consecutive “B” or better issues is a MUCH higher accomplishment than giving us 3 “B+/A-“.  It’s a great series: fun, snappy, crime-themed, fun characters, sexy, great art, comes out on time, etc.

3. Fun and entertaining story.  – The story is fun and bouncy.  Never holding still and never retreading old ground.  But, what makes it special for me is how all the characters are caricatures of their “type”.  The bumbling private eye is extra dumpy and goofy.  The Russian thugs all wear track suits.  Lots of big hair.  The Hispanic secretary at the police station who flirts with the lead detective is extra buxom.  And the funniest is the Russian mafia leader.  He’s got a cowboy fetish, so he’s shown watching TV in bed with his mistress he’s wearing a cowboy hat, boots with spurs, while she’s got on a Native American headdress.  But that’s not all, the bed is wagon-themed with big wagon wheels on it and there are gun belts on the floor and suction cup arrows stuck to the walls.  Lots of comics will show a guy with a fetish, but they’d stop at putting him in a cowboy hat– very few will put in the extra bit of creative effort that Blue Estate shows.  It demonstrates that the creators are having a blast and that enthusiasm is contagious to the reader.