I’m beginning to wonder if comic shops are the best places to find good comics anymore. While I like a lot of the characters, superhero comics don’t do much for me; they often feel all too much like The Young and The Restless for geeks. That and I’m too lazy for the commitment of keeping up with decades of continuity and buying a title every month for the unforeseeable future.
I’m also seeing fewer and fewer titles at the comic shop. I know there’s stuff out there; I read about it online. But, even though it’s in Diamond, it’s not making it to a shelf near me.
Consider Michael Bracco’s Novo. This is the kind of comic that, had I found it at my local comic shop, I would have bought. Instead, I came across the artist and his comic at Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philly.
So far, I’ve read four installments in the Novo epic: volumes 1 – 3 and Birth, a prequel of sorts. Each installment is a full graphic novel, coming in at about 90 pages.
Novo the character is the last survivor of a dead civilization. The inhabitants of that world, Aquans and Terans, warred until each race was at the last imaginable brink of extinction. And then Novo was born, a baby of both races who would serve as a living symbol of peace. . . if anyone else had been left alive.
As it moves forward, the series takes on an epic scale, revealing that although Novo’s people are gone, he’ll still serve his purpose for the rest of the galaxy.
The best aspect of Novo is the artwork. Bracco doesn’t cram each page with panels, giving the reader the bare minimum needed to move forward. But that’s OK because Bracco’s art is the kind that demands that the eyes linger over every line, every alien character, every alien landscape.
Novo is a well executed, worthwhile series. Check it out if you have a chance. Until then, here are some preview pages (click to embiggen):
Novo is available at Amazon and at Michael Bracco’s website. Look for Michael Bracco at the following Baltimore events in June and July of 2010:
6/12-6/13 – Honfest in Baltimore MD
6/26 – Pile Of Craft in Baltimore MD
7/16-7/18 – ARTSCAPE in Baltimore
Lisa Fary is a graduate of the creative writing program at Florida State University and holds an advanced degree in Special Education. Her earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She’s angry that it’s 2010 and she still doesn’t have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
Ooh – that sounds really cool! I tend to find more comics at shows and conventions than in the stores. I go to the store mostly for my Star Wars fix or something.