Boneyard – Review

Boneyard

by Richard Moore (NBM Publishing)
By Jamie Kiffel

Add a few hot hints at sex, forked-tongued jabs at politics, and a recently-dumped, superego-heavy protagonist to your favorite Saturday morning cartoon… and make the cutest characters undead. You’d have Richard Moore’s Boneyard, a comic about the cuddly-faced demons, soft-hearted haunts, and wisecracking wraiths who populate the local cemetery. The art – cartoony and big-eyed, with just a few inflata-boobed demonesses – has surprisingly realistically-proportioned heroes, including Michael Paris, a big-nosed bachelor whose body is often intriguingly half-nude, lightly muscular, and skinny in that sexy boy way, and vampire girl Abbey, who features a shockingly sculpted caboose and perky, barely-there-but-boy-you-wanna-see-’em breasts.

There are some great scenes (getting drunk at a cemetery nudie bar with monsters) and clever quips (the mayor, revealing himself as Satan, says, “All the signs were there! The minutes of the town council were written in blood, for godsake! I use the words ‘in praise of evil’ an average of 47 times in every speech!… I sponsor the local chapter of the Young Republicans!”), but there’s also too much cartoony back-and-forth dialogue that drags down the plot. It’s refreshing that the comic isn’t overridden with sex, but – maybe I’m just pent up here – I can’t help hoping somebody’s clothes will get torn off. And soon. C’mon, just one kiss? A feel? Anything? As Sid the skeleton might say, “We’re dyin‘ out here!”

Ahem.

There’s something very sexy about Boneyard, and with fun, sharp illustrations and clever characters, it keeps me giggling and turning pages. But it still needs to go a little bit deeper and faster to really keep this bloodsucker satisfied.
(www.nbmpublishing.com)