by Ben TemplesmithI've been a fan of Ben Templesmith's art since he worked with Warren Ellis on Fell (or perhaps sooner, but I can't think of what that would have been), so I was curious to see what the results of his Kickstarter campaign were. Never one to hide from the weird in the world, Templesmith created the world of The Squidder, and it is a pretty different one at that.
The future of the Squidder is one where the Earth has been taken over by squid-creatures from another dimension. After years of rule and some weird genetic stuff, humanity is on its last legs. Our hero, who never gets a name past Squidder, I don't think, is an augmented human, the last survivor of a push to get rid of the invaders. Many years later, he ekes out a quiet, secretive existence, until the usual stuff happens, and he gets dragged back into the conflict.
I like this story, but I feel like it could have used some more time or space to develop. I didn't feel like I knew the main character until the back half of the book, and much of what is going on can feel pretty obscure. At the same time, I appreciate that Templesmith put a great deal of philosophy into this story (it can be read as a fight between collective action and individual thought), and of course, the artwork is phenomenal. We don't see enough from Templesmith these days...
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