Far From Saints

(Second 2 Some, 2004)
™ and © Second 2 Some

In Two Over Ten last year, Myatt Murphy ran a backup story entitled Far from Saints that enabled him to work with an artist he admired, the talented but unknown Scott Dalrymple. But Saints was actually a story he had written much earlier that served as the inspiration for his second comic book, Fade from Blue. So, after receiving acclaim for both series, Murphy has wisely collected this excellent back-up feature into an ultra-affordable one-shot.

Reading like an adaptation of a lost Twilight Zone episode, the story features the proverbial lone traveler on the proverbial desert road in the proverbial middle of nowhere. But the lone building on the side of the road? Not a gas station or convenience store, but a print shop, of all things. Curious, the traveler ventures inside, and discovers more than just stationery and 5¢ photocopies. In the back room are a diverse group of otherworldly individuals—a group with a very important heavenly mission, a group that’s, well, not far from saints.

Murphy emulates Rod Serling’s technique of lengthy discourse among characters to great effect; suspense builds slowly and culminates in an unexpected, surprise climax. And Dalrymple’s fine line work allows him to illustrate in the degree of detail and texture needed to portray the wide array of featured characters. Fans who missed this story in Murphy’s first comic book owe it to themselves to pick up this far from costly collection.

— Jim Johnson

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Notes

Writer

Artist

#1

2-Nov-2004
Cover Price: $1.50
2 copies available from $2.00

Matt Murphy

Scott Dalrymple