Rodd Racer

by Toby Cypress

I enjoyed this 80-page graphic novel.  Cypress is a bit of an acquired taste as an artist - his pencils are sparse and messy, and sometimes hard to follow, but his painted pages are quite lovely.

Rodd Racer is a rather standard story about a hot rod racer who wants to win the Thunder Alley Rally, and escape the Yakuza gangster that he owes money to, all while keeping the girl.  Sounds reasonable, right?  Like his art, Cypress distills his story down to the barest of essentials to introduce his setting, the context for the races, and Rodd's back story.  There is nothing unnecessary in this book, and that works quite well in this case.

At the end of the day, this is a book that is more about showcasing Cypress's personal aesthetic than it is about sharing a story.  Cypress has come a ways from The Tourist, his graphic novel with Brian Wood, which felt much more primitive.  He's also currently working on The Blue Estate with Viktor Kalvachev, and it's nice to see how he works when on his own.

This is not the most brilliant book released this year, but if you like supporting upcoming artists, and are looking for an entertaining read, you can't go wrong with this book.