Inkblot #2 // Review
As Shakespeare might have said: Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others unwittingly chase meals in dangerous places. Once again, the beginning of a month finds Writer/Artist Emma Kubert and co-writer Rusty Gladd chasing a little black cat with big, hypnotic green eyes into danger. The second issue of Inkblot saunters its way onto comic book racks. This time the little black cat finds itself in the company of a few elves in a realm of peril. The second issue draws further appeal from Kubert's adorably oblivious hero whose silence is only occasionally interrupted by the occasional purr and a totally casual and unaffected "Mow."
Inkblot has journeyed outside the castle walls in the Cobblewood of the Forestlands. There are elves who live there. Theirs is a matriarchal culture. Queen's memories are shared by their daughters. Inkblot's inadvertent creator knows that the cat will be safe there. The elves, on the other hand, may be in a bit of danger. Danger does, in fact, come in the form of a giant red four-eyed dragon. The elves fight valiantly, but their safety is not assured. They need strength to defeat the threat to their community. Strength comes to them in a little, black furry form with huge green eyes.
The second issue seems to be establishing that the cat really IS the main central character here. Inkblot doesn't say anything. There's no internal monologue, and the story isn't exactly seen from its perspective. This sort of thing has been done before. Steve Gerber did an excellent job with it in the Man-Thing comics in the '70s. A rotating cast of supporting characters undergo conflicts affected by a main character that only has a tangential understanding of what's going on. Kubert and Gladd's approach is irresistibly cute. Anyone can relate to a cat. The fact that this particular cat darts across the backs of dragons and guilelessly opens portals to other worlds gives this series a look and a feel all its own.
Kubert's basic character design on Inkblot is as crazy as it is simple. She could place the cat into just about any fantasy context, and it would instantly transform it. The high fantasy that she's exploring here isn't too terribly original, but the cat's simple presence makes it all so endlessly more interesting. Some of the action feels stiff and schematic in places, but the drama at the center of the story is remarkably well-rendered in Kubert's art. There are thoughtful, little moments of visual inventiveness present throughout the comic. She even manages to find a look for a fire-breathing dragon that seems distinctive.
With his origin well and fully behind it, Inkblot is free to engage in weird sword-and-sorcery adventure. Here it wanders in and out of the center of the panel, finally arriving at the very center of the story in a very, very big way. It will remain to be seen how Kubert and Gladd manage the series's overall flow, but the premise of a main character who fades in and out of prominence as the world tumbles around it feels refreshingly novel.
