BUG! The Adventures of Forager

It seems perfectly timed that I just recently added the artist edition of Jack Kirby's New Gods to my collection. Forager's first appearance happened in the #9th issue in 1979. In the original story, Forager's origins are not fully disclosed. Although he is of the insect people who live below the gods on New Genesis, the story eluded to the fact that he might in fact be ascent from the gods and not of the bug people at all. The Allred's have picked up on this particular open feature of Forager's history and built the new story around this. On page one, Forager is urged to chase his ancestry but is lost wandering through his own dreams.

I'm sure by now that anyone who's followed me for more than a couple weeks understands my fondness for anything Mike Allred touches. Who better to touch this Kirby project than the Allred team!  Amazing colors provided by Laura with an exciting and fun story provided by Mike & Lee. If anyone else had gotten their hands on the project I would have likely scoffed and turned up my nose proper like the little comic book snob I've become. Happily, I did not have to do any of that. I'd hug the book if it wouldn't result in the wrinkling of pages. On another note, I was delighted that I managed to get James Harvey's variant cover of the first issue.

The Brute and Glob character designs are fantastic and maybe I'm a little bias here since I have a predisposition which causes my eyes to linger on pastel pinks. I may be suffering from Crang flashbacks.

The story is littered with pop culture references to my childhood, in particular a famous line from Pinky and the Brain. Oh Animaniacs will forever haunt my waking life and I'm not particularly upset about it.

To be honest this is one action packed issue and has an appropriate length which, I'm actually surprised. DC doesn't always publish floppies of any great length lately. I find artists and writers alike trying to push as much as they can into so few pages. I suspect that if this were not on the Young Animal DC imprint, it would suffer as many DC titles have  *coughConstantinecough* .

The whole issue leaves on an appropriate cliff hanger without leaving the reader dissatisfied. Enough lead up is provided to grasp the intentions of the story without spoiling any potential outcome and this is how first issues SHOULD be. Can't wait to read the next installment and if you haven't read the issue yet, I suggest you run out and pick it up. No Kirby fan will want to miss this story.