The Auteur #1
Written by Rick Spears
Illustrated by James Callahan
Colored by Luigi Anderson
Lettered by Rick Spears
Oni Press
Released March 5, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

From time to time, a comic comes along that is so different from everything else that it becomes hard to describe exactly what is going on in the comic. Such is the case when it come to The Auteur #1 from Oni Press. In the first issue, we are introduced to Nathan T. Rex, movie producer extraordinaire. He’s just made a wildly unsuccessful series of movies. Now he’s trying to get back on track with a horror movie.

That may not sound like a very interesting premise for a comic, but under the pen of Rick Spears, the series takes a series of strange twists as Nathan looks for inspiration.

While the story is interesting, and Spears has created a unique main character, what really sells the book is the art of James Callahan and the colors Luigi Anderson. Callahan has a highly detailed art style that gets shown off in a series of drug trips. Callahan’s art is supremely enhanced by Anderson’s color, which adds to the drug-fueled madness of not just the opening and closing scenes, but really the whole book.

This is not your normal comic book, but there is something about it that I found totally fascinating and I want to see where the story goes. I’ve read comics about superheroes, and spies, and monsters, but I don’t think I’ve ever read one about a character like this.

The Auteur is an odd book, but that’s what I like about it, so I’m giving this a 4 out of 5.