'Sharky! Volume 1: When Titans Clash!' - Elliot, Horley (Atomeka/Titan Comics)

I've got two more books to go before finishing my 'Black Company Re-Read' and, with my inevitable sense of timing, am experiencing a severe case of 'series burnout' (amongst other things). Not a good thing, at all, when you are up against the clock and faced with pages of dense prose...

This would explain why short stories and comic books have been featuring heavily here just recently and 'Sharky!' is next up. I'll be honest with you, this is going to be a very short review (more on that in a second) so anyone here who's expecting something a little meatier would be advised to check out any of the other blogs on my blogroll.

The thing is, as much as I enjoyed reading 'Sharky!', I haven't the slightest clue what it is about. I'm seriously wondering whether Elliot and Horley do. Sixteen year old Patrick becomes muscle-bound Sharky whenever his teenage hormones kick in, some gods are scheming and then they all go and fight zombies. And that's it. You catch glimpses of a plot, behind Horley's eyecatching swathes of violence and Amazonian flesh, but it's gone so quickly that you wonder if it was ever there at all.

Luckily the sheer energy and exuberance of the set pieces, and artwork, carry the reader along without too much need for explanation. As I've said, Alex Horley's art demands your attention, both in terms of style and execution.

Would I read volume two? I have to say yes purely because I was left with such a sense of 'what the hell just happened there?' that there is no question of whether I will continue reading. 'Sharky!' was a cool enough way to while away an hour; come back and find me after volume two if you're after something a little more indepth...