Wormwood v.2 & v.3 by Ben Templesmith

What can I say, I love Ben Templesmith’s art, and his storytelling is just odd. He makes me laugh and cringe and giggle when I catch pop references.

Wormwood: It Only Hurts When I Pee and Wormwood: Calamari Rising, continue the story of Wormwood and his adventures in this and other dimensions. In It Only Hurts When I Pee, Wormwood and his companions run into trouble at a leprechaun fight (and these are not cute little leprechauns) and must go off to Leprechaunia in search of the Queen and a cure. In addition they run into trouble with the Squidmen (think Borg from Star Trek: the Next Generation but with tentacles.)

In Calamari Rising, Wormwood and his companions must fight the Brotherhood of the Calamari (squidmen) as they try to take over Earth. Will Medusa and her order survive the attack and will Wormwood escape the clutches of the Queen of the Calamari.

We learn a bit more about Wormwood in both of these volumes and though I’m not always sure I get the humor, I love the artwork and it almost doesn’t matter what the story is, I’m so fascinated with the art and this is the first graphic novel artist that I can say this about.

Singularity and Welcome to Hoxford by Ben Templesmith

In my pursuit of all things Templesmith I came across two other graphic novels of his with completely different types of stories. While I still love Templesmith’s style of art, the stories in these were a bit more on the icky side than the funny side.

Singularity tells a story of a mysterious asteroid and the nanites that fall to Earth and begin to take control. The nanites infested one man who then began to remake the world in a belief he is improving it for the others. There are a few underground cities left trying to survive against the nanites but it’s not looking good and a last ditch effort to destroy the original one is begun. What happens and what they learn gives an eerie almost funny twisted ending.

Welcome to Hoxford is a horror story. We follow Raymond, not exactly a stable guy, he makes serial killers look pleasant, and a few other folks as they are banished to Hoxford, a special prison. Slowly we learn why this is a special prison and how Raymond finally finds his own place. Lots of gore, characters you don’t want to ever be real, it’s hard to say I liked this graphic novel but it was certainly a different look at Templesmith’s storytelling and artistic skills.

Wormwood Gentleman Corpse - Ben Templesmith

I’m not sure why but I really enjoyed Wormwood Gentleman Corpse. Wormwood is a little worm that lives/operates a dead body. Wormwood likes to drink beer, and hang out at the clubs, one in particular that has a portal to other dimensions. He has a tin companion, lives in a house with a ghost that is supposed to be solving some cases before he moves on. When he agrees to help solve a series of violent deaths, he meets a creature from elsewhere that is trying to complete a ritual that will open a portal and bring something through that will give it power. Turns out Wormwood knows the brother of this other alien and after apologies and promises to come for dinner, the takeover of Earth is diverted.

The artwork in this was very interesting a combination of drawing and painting, muted colors. There wasn’t a whole lot of depth to this story but I had a lot of fun with it and I’ll be looking for more