Night Fisher has a lovely
cover and it says on the back that it is a graphic novel telling a
"compassionate, hard-nosed coming-of-age story," but it is a bad sign
when you have read a book twice and still can’t remember any details.  It is about a teenaged boy called Loren who
lives with his dentist father in Hawaii. 
Loren’s best friend Shane is acting strange, and his father is giving
him a hard time for not getting straight A’s. 
In fact, Loren gets into much worse trouble than just slipping in his
grades, and the story shows some of the local life as he mixes with different
people.  There are aspects of this book
that are impressive: the number and size of frames on each page varies to keep
it looking visually dynamic — occasionally the layout is very strong — and
there are some nice drawings thrown in that hold the eyes.  The art is consistent and Johnson uses bold
lines that suggest plenty of energy. 
However, the dialog does not flow well, most of the drawing seems
heavy-handed, especially in the lettering, and the story itself never does
engage the reader, or at least, not this reader.  Maybe if the lead character was more interesting or the story was
easier to follow the book would be more enjoyable.  There are signs of strong talent here, but as a whole the book is
dull. 

   © 2005 Christian Perring. All rights reserved.

Links:
Fantragraphics Comics

R. Kikuo Johnson Web Site

Christian Perring, Ph.D., is
Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island, and editor
of Metapsychology Online Review.  His main research is on
philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

Categories: ArtAndPhotography