Boneyard v.7
Written & Illustrated by Richard Moore
Published by NBM

The publishing world of comics won’t be quite as fun any more, as Richard Moore’s Boneyard concludes with its seventh collected edition.  Yeah, he could one day return, but for now, this supernatural comedic adventure serial is closing up shop, leaving its creator more time to pursue other projects that percolate in his mind.

Here’s Boneyard’s big picture: Michael Paris inherits a graveyard from his grandfather, and in this graveyard he discovers a classic sitcom-worthy collection of spooks and ghouls, including a lewd demon, a wolfman mechanic, a fishy temptress and one very cute, very deadly and very caring vampire named Abbey.  Over the previous six books, Michael and Abbey have grown toward one another, but always find themselves interrupted by … perhaps the devil himself trying to take over the graveyard.

Well, if they’re going to find a happy ending at the end of the series, there will be one more potential pitfall: Michael’s whisking off to Faerie Land to prevent his childhood imaginary friend (not so imaginary, it turns out) from being forced into an unwanted marriage.  And Abbey needs a raise an army powerful enough to stop every Faerie in the world to save him.

Skewing towards jokes over plot, Boneyard’s final book feels slightly thin, but Moore makes it work because the jokes are good and the characters endearing. Michael’s earnestness and loyalty make him a relatable protagonist, and Abbey’s resourcefulness and determination make her his equal in every measure.  Mix in a heavy helping of dork humor – parallel realities (including our heroes dropping into pirate and action figure realities en route to Fairie Land), Star Trek jokes, discussions by the gargoyles about the hottest statue around – and you have a winning combination for comic book and fantasy geeks.

Moore’s artwork, animated and open, somewhat reminiscent of Jeff Smith, captures the subtleties of his characters’ emotions, while still maintaining the dynamic explosiveness of the action sequences and the broad appeal of the slapstick humor (or setting up deadpan reactions to exuberant rodent smashing, for example).  The character designs are strong and immediately recognizable, and Moore understands the intricacies of page layout and pacing.

Boneyard’s time may be ending, and perhaps Moore could’ve developed a stronger conclusion, but the overall series remains a strong one.  Suffused with geeky humor and high adventure, well drawn, and emotionally real, Boneyard v.7 concludes Michael and Abbey’s story, but Richard Moore remains a comics creator to watch, and Boneyard stands as a series well worth rereading many times over.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 7:00 am and is filed under Comic Books, Graphic Novels, Mike's Musings, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.