Short Review: Interesting, if ultimately uninteresting. Did I just write that?
The first impression you get on picking up this comic is "Gimmick!". The story is a simple musicman on the way up, with the twist that all the characters are bugs. Lafler does a fairly good job of matching personalities to what their bug should look like, and throws in a drug called Bug Juice for good measure, but there's just no reason for it. The story itself is entertaining, telling the story of a great saxophonist with a juice problem, who got into trouble on some mean streets in the first issue, and devotes much of his time to getting the monkey off his back, and getting a deal for his band. The main problem, and a curious one it is, is the last few panels, which skip through six weeks to a happy conclusion. It may be that Lafler couldn't say anymore about this period of the band's history, but the skip is jarring, and looks more like the conclusion of a two-part series than the second part of a continuing series. There's no hook to get the readers back for part 3, a fault which is compounded by the fact that none of the characters are charismatic enough (or original enough, if you know the subject matter involved) to draw the readers on. A mistake, particularly since more work of this type would be refreshing.
Andrew These reviews are copyright the authors