Snarked #2
Written and Illustrated by Roger Langridge
Colors by Rachelle Rosenberg
Kaboom! Studios
Release Date: November 2, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

Snarked by Roger Langridge returns this week with its second issue. It’s an issue full of character development and surprising revelations that was a joy to read.

It is usually around its second issue most comics prove if they are going to continue in greatness or if its creator used all of their artistic brilliance in the first issue. Langridge luckily beats the sophomore slump with Snarked #2 and continues to take us on an unforgettable journey with a cast of charming and lovable characters.

Snarked #1
Created by Roger Langridge
Written and Illustrated by Roger Langridge
Colors by Rachelle Rosenberg, Matthew Wilson
Covers by Roger Langridge, Chris Samnee
BOOM! Studios
Release Date: October 5, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

All-ages comics are an interesting genre. A creator must be able to tell a story that can appeal to a wide age-range while also keeping it visually and thematically dynamic. More often than not creators try to use broad strokes to tell their all age’s story. If you are trying to make something for a broad demographic, why not use universally funny or silly concepts so everyone can appreciate it, right? But the issue is that while trying to capture these collectively “funny” or “childlike” themes writers often lose control of a story just they can throw in another gag. Luckily Roger Langridge‘s Snarked avoids this pitfall and tells a smart, quirky, and most importantly fun story that anyone can appreciate.

Snarked #0
Written & Drawn by Roger Langridge
Cover by Roger Langridge
Price: $1.00
BOOM! Studios
Release date: August 2011

If the Eisner awards for comics still had the “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition” category, Roger Langridge would be a shoe-in to win this year. His runs on The Muppet Show comic for BOOM! Studios and The Mighty Thor for Marvel were well loved by critics and the people who actually read it, but sold in pretty small numbers. Langridge is back with a new series, Snarked, also from BOOM! Judging from the preview issue, Snarked #0, it is another series that deserves a bigger audience than it may reach.

Snarked centers on two characters, Wilberforce J Walrus and Clyde McDunk, also known as the Carpenter. If you’re familiar with Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, you may recognize the names of those characters. Snarked takes the characters from Carroll’s poem, and puts them in their own little universe. In this introductory issue, we meet the two main characters and get a good sense of their personalities. Walrus is a grifter, a cheat, a smooth talker, and a layabout. The Carpenter is stupid. He is a dupe, a rube, and a simpleton. There is a Laurel and Hardy feel to their relationship that is perfectly expressed within the first few pages. We’ve all read these types of characters before, but there is still humor to be mined from them by a skilled writer.