Evil Eye

(Fantagraphics, 1998-2005)
™ and © Fantagraphics Books, Inc.

Every comic book stands a chance of being someone’s first. In the interests of bringing in new readers, one can only hope that this is not it.

Bad story? No. Bad art? Not really. But when it comes to inaccessibility, the Eye has it. This issue is part nine of an ongoing storyline, and, boy, does it read like it. Apparently, a young woman is investigating ghoulish doings at a college campus, but readers may not easily figure this out. There’s the mysterious oversized guy who’s called Sunflower, the hand puppet that’s someone’s Aunt Azalea, and some other creepy guy named Bindle. But what’s it all about, Alfie?

There seems to be a story here, but its origins and meaning, if any, must have been revealed somewhere in the eight issues of backstory that the reader is presumably expected to find and trudge through. There are a number of devices that creator Richard Sala could have employed to clear things up: a summary on the inside front cover, perhaps, or (preferably) a few explanations in the course of the story.

It seems unfair to judge a seemingly complex story by a given incomprehensible single issue, but that is exactly what any new reader will do. This is an easily fixed problem that would do wonders for the comic book, and it’s to be hoped that Sala will consider this in future issues.

— Jim Johnson

Jump to issue:

Notes

Writer

Artist

#1

June, 1998
Cover Price: $2.95
1 copy available for $49.99

Richard Sala

#3

April, 1999
Cover Price: $2.95
2 copies available from $3.00

Richard Sala

#5

Cover Price: $2.95
1 copy available for $9.00

Richard Sala

#7

March, 2001
Cover Price: $2.95
1 copy available for $5.00

Richard Sala

#11

January, 2004
Cover Price: $3.50
1 copy available for $64.99

Richard Sala