Lydnsey Holder from Innsmouth Free Press is a comic book lover. Not just a comic book lover, but one of 'those' comic book lovers. She "hates lots of things... complains about them frequently and bitterly... picky and grumpy and incredibly difficult to please." Those are her words not mine.
But when she likes something, she loves it. She even has a tattoo from one of her favorite comic books. According to her, "Anything negative I could say about Harbor Moon is far outweighed by all of the praise that it deserves and that means a lot coming from my grumpy, demanding self. This team is definitely one to watch, as I am certain that they will do even more amazing things in the future. Perhaps I’ll even have to get another tattoo."
So we could be body art. That is awesome. The full review follows:
"The cover of the indie graphic novel Harbor Moon is fantastic, but if you regularly buy comics, you’ll know how poor of a measurement cover art is for the inside art. I remember being intrigued by Tim Bradstreet’s amazing cover art for Punisher, only to be bitterly disappointed to find out that not only was the inside art done by a different artist, it also wasn’t anywhere near as gorgeous. Thankfully, Pawel Sambor, the artist of Harbor Moon, has managed to create panels that live up to the standard set by the cover. He really seems to understand his medium and how to use it for best effect. You can almost feel the movement in the action scenes.
The story starts off in the middle, without any backstory, which is rare in comics. One thing I hate about comics is the tendency to assume that the reader needs everything spoon-fed to them, as though years of reading Silver Age Superman have rotted our brains and left us unable to comprehend subtlety. I liked feeling as though there were many secrets I wasn’t being let in on just yet. The writing drew me into the story, tugging me along with the main character on his relentless search for answers.
As the story unfolds, we follow Tim, who has gone to the town of Harbor Moon, Maine, to find his father. This proves to be no easy task, however: the locals are unhelpful and often downright threatening. Tight-lipped, they all appear to be hiding a terrible secret and are willing to protect it from Tim at any cost. The inhospitality of the townsfolk is the least of his worries: strange creatures in the forest are stalking him. It seems as though, in trying to find his father, Tim has become entangled in a deeper mystery and trying to solve it may cost him his life.
I wouldn’t say that this is the best comic I’ve read – the story flounders a bit in some places, the reveals aren’t always done effectively, and the quality of the art isn’t always consistent – but it does a lot of very clever things while managing to avoid many of the tired clichés of its genre."
