Barnstorming was a wildly popular form of entertainment in the 1920s. Pilots would do death-defying stunts in front of crowds for cash and fame. Scott Snyder’s comic “Barnstormers” with artist Tula Lotay and colorist Dee Cunniffe takes this old-time entertainment and adds kidnapping, murder, intrigue and romance.
In 1927, ace pilot Hawk E. Baron is trying to make a living as a barnstormer. One day he (literally) crashes a wedding, gets handcuffed by the family until the police arrive and the bride, Tillie, frees him and forces him to take her with him. Her family thinks Hawk kidnapped her and starts a chase between Hawk, Tillie’s Family and the police.
The plot seems interesting and something that may have been written in the 1920s, but as the story goes on it turns into a plodding mess. The characters go from having interesting personalities to barely having any. It becomes a chore to read starting with the third chapter and you need to force yourself to finish. Not to mention the constant cursing feels out of place for a story set in the 1920s. People back then did curse but not this often.
The artwork is the only thing in this comic that is consistently high quality. Lotay manages to make everything scream “Roaring Twenties” from the clothes, the backgrounds, the hair and how an American town looked back then. Cunniffe’s colors greatly add to the feel of the twenties. The entire comic looks like posters that were common in the twenties. Sometimes you want to stop and appreciate the 1920s artwork while listening to 1920s jazz.
“Barnstormers” starts on a high note but ends on a low note. A plodding story with boring, unlikeable characters brings down the plot. On the other hand, the artwork perfectly brings the era to life to the point where you can smell the bathtub gin and cigarette smoke and can hear the jazz playing on those old wooden radios.
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