Cold Cut Distribution's Feature Spotlight #35 - June 1998
Two-Fisted Science
| Publisher: | GT Labs |
| Writer: | Jim Ottaviani |
| Artists: | various: Bernie Mireault,
Scott Roberts, David Lasky,
Rob Walton, others. |
| Cover Price: | $10 for the GN,
$2.50 for the issue |
| Frequency: | One-Shot |
| Issues Available: | 1 + GN |
Storyline:
2FS is an anthology of short tales featuring real scientists.
About half of the book is stories about one of the more colorful
scientists of the 20th Century, Nobel laureate physicist Richard
Feynman. Most of these stories are adapted from his two
autobiographies (Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, and
What Do You Care What Other People Think?), though a few are from other
sources like lecture tapes and personal recollections.
The remainder of the tales feature a variety of scientists from
all periods of history, including Galileo, Isaac Newton, Nils Bohr,
Hans Bethe, and others. Entertaining, insightful, and yes, even
(gasp!) educational, 2FS is a delight to read and enjoy!
Writing Review:
Jim Ottaviani takes some of the better short tales from Feynman's
life and does a fine job of adapting them to this visual medium, as
he does with other tales both long (Galileo's battle with the
Church) and short (Hans Bethe's comment about the stars). With
a talent for adapting personal tales, we can only hope to see more
of Jim's work published in comics in the years to come. Certainly,
at a minimum, is a sort of "sequel" to 2FS due to be published
in 1999, featuring art by women comics creators on stories of
women scientists. An eagerly-awaited follow-up!
Art Review:
A wide variety of artists provide the art for the stories, almost
all of them excellent. Donna Barr is her usual solid self on two
short pieces, Colleen Doran does a nice one-pager, Mark Badger
hands in a gorgeous Feynman short, and Paul Chadwick and Guy
Davis each provide a cover. Minicomics artist Sean Bieri turns in
a nice Newton-Leibniz fight story, Steve Lieber takes on Bohr's
war years, and Scott Saavedra does a few pages on Feynman.
The longest stories belong to Bernie Mireault, who does
excellent work through about a third of the book, a long series of
short stories about Feynman as a safecracker. Scott Roberts
(Patty Cake) also does a long tale, though the art on his story of
Galileo unfortunately comes off muddy and dark on some pages,
while the silent short story "Moscow Lab No. 2" by Lin Lucas is
merely hard to follow.
Audience:
Anyone who enjoys real-life adventures (like Adventure Strip
Digest, or Rare Bit Fiends) will love this book - and it's also a
perfect book to hand to non-comics readers. Like Understanding
Comics, 2FS deserves a permanent place on every comic shop's
shelves. True Tales of Real Scientists: a daring, exciting, and
ultimately successful experiment in comics storytelling!
If you like Two-Fisted Science, take a look at:
Cold Cut Distribution
220 N Main St. - Salinas, CA 93901 - (831) 751-7300