DRAWING BLOOD #1
IMAGE COMICS
STORY: Kevin Eastman and David Avallone
SCRIPT: David Avallone
ART: Ben Bishop
“FLASHBACKS”: Ben Bishop (layouts) and Kevin Eastman
“HALLUCINATIONS”: Ben Bishop (layouts) and Troy Little
COLORS: Brittany Peer
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito
COVER: Kevin Eastman
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Ben Bishop; Ben Bishop, Kevin Eastman, and Robert Rodriguez
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (April 2024)
Rated “T+/Teen Plus”
Drawing Blood created by Kevin Eastman and David Avallone
Chapter One: “Drawn Blood”
Kevin Eastman is a comic book writer and writer-artist best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) with writer-artist Peter Laird. Born in 1962, Eastman found himself with a burgeoning worldwide pop culture sensation by the time he was 25 in 1987, as TMNT entered the world of animated television, toys, and other merchandising. That made Eastman and Laird very rich.
In 2019, via his comic book publishing company, KES Comics, Eastman published the four-issue miniseries, Drawing Blood. Referencing his own career in comic books and media, Drawing Blood depicted the roller coaster life of a successful comics creator whose real life has become more absurd than any comic book.
The original Drawing Blood returns with new issues as a 12-issue series from Image Comics. It is written by Kevin Eastman and David Avallone; drawn by Ben Bishop, Troy Little, and Eastman, colored by Brittany Peer; and lettered by Taylor Esposito.
Drawing Blood #1 (“Blood Drawn”) opens in the present day. Shane “Books” Bookman and his friend, Nigel “Beastly” Boswell, are about to have a meeting with Lithuanian hoods at the local docks. It is also all about to go bad.
Once upon a time, Shane was in the middle of success. He was a star thanks to the comic book characters he co-created with Frank Forrest, a comic book creator he idolized as a child. However, the glory days are over, and Frank was not who Shane thought he was, although he was apparently everything everyone else knew he was. Now, desperate, Shane's life is about to become more absurd than his comics creations ever were.
THE LOWDOWN: I was able to procure a PDF review copy of Drawing Blood #1. Thus, I decided to review it for you, dear readers.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of the most unique comic books ever created and the Turtles themselves are a genius creation of popular culture. The Turtles co-creator, Kevin Eastman, revealed some of his trials and tribulations as a businessman, comic book publisher, and media figure in an extensive interview published in The Comics Journal #202 (cover dated: March 1998) and conducted by magazine's co-founder, Gary Groth.
To what extent Drawing Blood is based on a true story is a mystery to me. Eastman has an excellent co-conspirator and collaborator in writer David Avallone. Through his many Elvira comic book series and his 2016 surreal throw down, The Twilight Zone: The Shadow, Avallone has displayed a penchant for executing the most engaging comic book tales of the absurd, the surreal, and the real-adjacent. On its own, this opening chapter, “Blood Drawn,” is engaging and intriguing just focusing on Shane Bookman. Wondering what is exaggerated and what is fictional is only half the fun in this series.
Artist Ben Bishop's storytelling here recalls the early art of Kevin Eastman in the TMNT comic books. There was an independent spirit in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, but Eastman and Laird's art had a handmade quality that mainstream comic books of the mid-1980s were gradually abandoning. Bishop's visual and graphical storytelling style resembles that and is perfect for this story of an Eastman-like comics creator. Bishop captures the emotional underpinnings of the Avallone's script and emphasizes just how vulnerable Bookman is. Also, having Eastman draw a segment of this first issue is a delightful bonus of which I want more.
Like Howard Chaykin's Hey Kids! Comics! (Image Comics, 2018), Drawing Blood is a much-needed allegory (of sorts) about comic book creators inside and outside their work. Drawing Blood has a lot to say, and it will have fun saying it. I think you will want to hear every word of it, dear readers, so definitely give it a try.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of both Kevin Eastman and David Avallone will want to try Drawing Blood.
A
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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