A train-ride... to Beyond!

There's a special feeling one gets from the familiar, combined with the new in just such a way where the new isn't jarring and the familiar isn't repetitive.
For me anyway.
I dunno about you.
Evidently. You see, the familiar for me may be the new for you, and what could give me a particular tingle down the back of my spine, may forever scare you away from the good stuff.

Anyway, it took me by surprise. The name Vasilis Lolos had blipped on my global comics radar. (yeah shut up, I'm tired, reading too much Ellis, and yes, I DO have a comics radar. Works better than yours any day.) But the work he'd been doing (a rock-influenced series for Image Comics) wasn't immediately floating my boat.
Turns out he apparently floats in the same cirlces as creators like Brian Wood, Becky Cloonan & the like. (see? Told you my radar works better.)
Their collaboration on Demo is still one of the high points of recent comics storytelling.
So the least I could do was give Last Call a try.


And that's where my special feelings comes back. In its most simplified form, this first volume reads as an urban Sento Chihiro no kamikakushin. Or Spirited Away, for the uninformed (and if you don't know what that is? Seriously...) Every one loves the Miyazaki.
Strange surroundings, weird, alien monsters and a train as big as a skyscraper. It picks up 2 kids, out for a fun time in their mom's car, and from there the surprises never stop.
The art is a good blend of Paul Pope, Cloonan and enough Lolos to keep the feeling just right.
Here's to volume 2!

Be seeing you
--nout