Writer/Artist: Brian Churilla, Jeremy Shepherd

Publisher: Archaia, $9.95

One of the best surprise packages to come out this year, the Engineer is a quirky fun series about an unlucky and offbeat hero chosen to save reality itself from a horrible creature from beyond. Accompanied by three odd witch sisters and his handy and potentially disturbed robot companion Roland (who likes chickens a little too much), the Engineer uses a mix of science and mysticism to travel across dimensions in search of the missing pieces of the all-powerful Konstrukt. Of course, the search tends to lead him into the maws of danger time and time again and he’s generally unwelcome wherever he goes due to the destruction he tends to bring with him.

Stylistically echoing a pleasant mix of Mike Mignola, Eric Powell, and Mike Huddleston, the Engineer has a healthy balance of horrible monsters and science antics with a little bit of action thrown in for good measure. It also has the good nature to not take itself so seriously and throw in some pure fun with all the zombies and crab people and giant chickens, and then you add a little dash of Kirby in the art and ass-kicking and you pretty much have a success.

The storytelling is crisp, easy to follow, and very clean. In some aspects it reminds me of Jeff Smith’s Bone as well, but all the great monster designs definitely lean more towards a Mignola-esque style of design. The script is great in that it’s fairly straightforward with enough intrigue in the background to keep you interested and a fairly open path of subject matter that can offer a lot of great future material. You can tell that Churilla and Shepherd just want to have fun, and that in turn enhances the overall product.

On top of great content, the package is a perfect deal. 120 pages of story with sketches, pin-ups, and other material in a nicely bound normal trim hard cover package for only $9.95! This is not only absolutely accessible to any new reader, it’s the perfect deal to draw in pretty much anybody regardless of your genre leanings. If you are a fan of Hellboy, the Goon, or Atomic Robot then you definitely need to check this out, and if you know someone who likes any of those titles or just likes good solid fun then this collection is perfectly priced for a holiday gift.

If you like this then try: The Anchor, The Coffin, Atomic Robo, Outer Orbit, The Marquis, Hellboy, The Goon

Related Links: Brian Churilla

Archaia