The first issue of Septagon Studios’ Gator Butch provides an interesting blend of comedy and action, that ultimately hits the mark in some places and misses in others.
The end result is a series that is full of potential and just a few steps short of solid.
Let’s just say that Gator Butch as a character is pretty cool. A gator guy wearing a cowboy hat and flannel shirt that kicks major amounts of redneck ass? Sign us up.
If you’re still unsure of the character, think “Crocodile Dundee” meets the Southern atmosphere of “True Blood.”
However, rather than get us fully used to the character, he’s thrust right into action, robbing the reader of a perfect opportunity of getting comfortable with him. As a result, there’s a level of disconnect with him during his first real battle because we don’t know what his real motivations are.
Is he just a monster hunter out for money or is he a hero?
The faster the reader finds this out, the faster they can associate better with him and suspend their disbelief. That’s what good comic book writing is all about. After the first issue, we’re only about halfway done with this process.
While the scene where Butch is hearing voices doesn’t give us much, it’s one of the only instances where we’re allowed to get inside his head. If writer Kurt Belcher is eventually able to get Butch across to his readers, he could get over pretty quick.
Again, it’s pretty hard to not like a tough guy and especially one as cool as Butch.
While the writing isn’t perfect, it gets the job done well enough to keep the reader interested and wanting more.
The thing that ultimately hurts the comic however is the art. Hard to read the faces on the characters, the photoshopped art [reminiscent of the Adult Swim hit show “Tom Goes to the Mayor] is different, but robs the comic of some of the drama that the writing creates. It’s hard to deny the cool factor it presents though. In the end, if artist David Hollenbach could find a way to better manipulate text bubbles and keep every characters faces prominent, the art would work. As of right now, it’s too hard to tell what’s going on, especially in the fighting scenes.
Because of this, the comic has some work to do before it’s truly aesthetically pleasing.
It’s not all for naught though.
With a different type of lead character and equally as different type of art, “Gator Butch” is brimming with potential. Overall, it’s easy to see that the comic has the ability to be a true Indy hit, it just needs more polish before Butch’s real bite can be felt by everyone.
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