by Steve Saville
And so the saga of Scar continues. In this latest instalment we learn more about his friendship with the recently demised, hockey mask wearing, best friend, Black Jack and follow Scar as he starts his term at Stonegate Penitentiary.
The setting may well have changed but the hall mark features of this title remain. For example violence seems to follow Scar everywhere, [or maybe he follows it] either way whilst the violence is less dominant in this issue it is still present. The dialogue is witty and Canini seizes the opportunity to inject humour into the plot. In fact the dialogue is probably better than it has been in previous issues and a real highpoint. The use of flashbacks to piece together Scar's troubled past and explain his present anger is also, once again, very apparent.
All of these features are handled well, but I am a little concerned that the heavy use of flashback as a narrative technique is starting to impede the forward progression of plot.
The prison scene with the 'new kid' having to establish his place in the pecking order is a little cliched, probably quite factual but it has been done many times before. Canini gets away with it though, mainly because after four editions we are starting to identify with Scar and appreciate the complexities of his personality.
Canini does effectively build tension in this instalment and the ending does leave us genuinely concerned for Scar. But this again is something that is starting to concern me, at 15 pages the comic is just starting to really build up speed when it ends, coupled with the fact that there has to be some recapping of previous plot and what we are left with is a tale that gets off the ground and seems destined to soar only to run out of fuel and have to crash land.
The narrative really needs to kick along and it may take a bumper issue to do it, how about a 30 pager now that would give us something to really get our teeth into.
My previous comments regarding page layout still stand and the pages still have a crowded feel about them.
This is a worthy title but it needs room to breath.
In a word: Imprisoned
A word of warning, if you haven't read the first two instalments orf this on-going story line then don't start with #3. It really is a continuing story that you have to follow step by step if you are to get any satisfaction from your read.
In fact I recommend that you read all 3 editions back to back as together they tend to build up a head of steam which is severely derailed by the breaks between editions. Having said that it is always nice to see a small press publication actually get to #3 and beyond, we need stamina and commitment like that folks.
Canini has persevered with the cheaper black and white cover but the fact that it is a single frame does ensure that it has some visual impact.
The guts of this latest instalment [excuse the pun] is in reality one long and very bloody fight between two non human hit men who have been 'serving the same market' for some time. As a result they are not exactly the best of friends. So when the violence starts it really kicks off and we have guns, knives and a lot of blood, pints of the stuff in fact.
The only real breaks we get are the flashback scenes that explain the animosity between these two creatures as well as the reasons behind Scar's [the dog] anger, that being the murder/ assassination of his good buddy Black Jack.
The sight of a large nosed dog brawling with a large ape like creature is intriguing and Canini does milk some of the humorous opportunities it presents well.
It certainly is action packed but I still have some reservations about the layout and general page design adopted by Canini. His adherence to a rigid frame shape [and often size] means that his characters often appear to be too tightly constrained within a small box. At times the action is a prisoner to the frame. Looing at a page one is reminded of looking art a consecutive series of frames from a movie reel, and the overall effect is quite cinema graphic. To the extent that some frames are very similar in angle and composition showing just minimal character movement.
Overall this comic is still precariously balanced; it needs to go somewhere fast or it runs the risk of appearing to be repetitively going over the same ground. Hopefully the 'framing' of scar at then end will provide this impetus.
In a word: Gorefest
I found the first edition of Ruffians [and yes that is a very nice pun] a little disconcerting in the way it married a 'cartoonish' main character with a darkly violent storyline. Despite my reservations I still found the opening chapter of this ongoing title intriguing and I was therefore keen to see what the second instalment held in store.
The most obvious immediate development between the two comics is the fact that number two is considerably cheaper due to the fact that Canini has done away with the colour cover, in fact he has done away with the traditional cover altogether preferring to get straight into the action.
And action is an appropriate word to use when describing Ruffians #2. The 16 pages on show here revolve around Scar [the dog hitman who is trying to track down the killer of his friend Blackjack] visiting Malt a large gorilla cum Yeti type of creature and trying, unsuccessfully, to use violence and accusation to extract a confession from Malt that he is the killer.
The comic opens with Malt coming home with the shopping to find an armed and angry Scar waiting for him, and ends with Malt holding a gun to Scar's snout and about to blow his face off when 'someone' enters. Canini then has provided a very effective cliff hanger of an ending for us, who is the mysterious visitor who has interrupted proceedings? Only #3 will provide us with the answer.
So what we have is basically one extended argument interspersed with acts of violence and the occasional witticism as these two characters do battle with word, fist knife and gun. The witty comments are good too and example being when Malt ironically comments on arriving home to find Scar sitting in his front room on a comfy chair pointing a gun, "I see you've made yourself comfortable."
As the storyline develops it is becoming apparent that Scar despite his confidence is a little bit out of his league, and the sordid, violent world that he inhabits is, in reality, a little bit bigger and more complex than he realised. How this idea is developed is enough reason alone to maintain my interest and encourage me to keep a keen eye out for #3.
Many of the reservations outlined in my review of #1 still hold true for #2. All too often the characters still appear to be too big for the frames that contain them and as a result there is still a very crowded feel to many of the pages. The opening page being a prime example of this.
In a Word: Dogged
The plot of Ruffians#1 goes something like this, "Scar has always known violence. He was born to it, raised in it, and will someday die by its hand. But Blackjack's death is a whole new type of violence, a type that he can't wrap his mind around with any kind of ease.
Finding his best friend dead on a rooftop, bullet through his head, has made Scar a bit paranoid. And when you know as many ways to kill a man as he does, there are few things more dangerous than paranoia. He want's to know who did it, why they did it, and if they have any last requests."
Pretty dark stuff then, a world of hitman and mystery lived on the wrong side of town. Now I am picking that whatever pictures formed in your mind of Scar as you were reading the outline above they did not feature a cartoon dog with a large snout. And even if they did I'm picking that they did not feature a blue cartoon dog with a large yellow snout and red boxing gloves. Thankfully the comic is in black and white and the very 'colourful' [in every possible way] main character is only portrayed in full colour on the cover.
The large cartoonish dog and the dark world he inhabits are not always comfortable bed fellows in this comic, but I tend to blame Roger Rabbit for starting this whole cute character in evil world thing. At times the two are just a little too incongruous. There are some other problems in this first edition that also get in the way of our accessibility as new readers.
The bar room dialogues, while necessary to establish the characters, are just a little long and even the fact that they are interspersed with acts of extreme violence the pace does flag a little through the middle of this comic.
The plot alternates between two time frames, now and the time leading up to and discovery of Blackjack's murder. The problem is that the change from one time frame to the other is not indicated with any cohesion or clarity and as a result confusion can and does occur as we struggle to figure out whether we are in the past or the here and now. In the end we are nearly as confused as Scar himself.
Visually there is a problem in the presentation of some of the frames as Scar [large snout and all] appears just too big for some of the frames. He is too dominant and takes up just too much space, at times this detracts from creating an ongoing environment and setting that is important in establishing the context of a new title. Scar just seems to block everything else out.
Despite these criticisms Ruffians is a worthy edition to the world of small press. The first edition creates a good level of complexity in both the characters and storyline and this augurs well for future editions. This title should develop into a nasty little read full of deception and violence as we continue to delve into the dark and violent world of Scar the angry dog with the large snout.
In a Word: Ruffenuf
Brian Canini.
Copyright © 2001 by [Drunken Cat Comics]. All rights reserved.