Review -- RAZORJACK -- Collected Edition

Razorjack - Collected Edition
Created & Written by John Higgins
Art by John Higgins
Comx Comics
All right, time to be a bit of a pure ‘fan boy’ here. While my interviews for these reviews are carried out via email, I have to say it’s still a huge thrill to think John Higgins took the time to support my humble endeavours.
If you are a true comic fan you will recognize Higgins name as the colorist on The Watchmen, one of the true classic comic title. You might know it from a recent movie that garnered some attention too *wink.
Razorjack is Higgins own creation, where he spreads his wings and does it all, create, write and pencil, and he does it darned well too.
I have to say Higgins created a wonderfully dark, twisted and interesting world filled with dark, demonic otherworldly creatures looking to cross into ours, led by Razorjack.
“The Razorjack character was designed before I had written the complete story,” said Higgins. “I needed to visualize for my self a creature that was the essence of evil. I thought long and hard about her, redesigned her a thousand times. Once I had that sense of the protagonist, everything else revolved around her.
“I have been going through style changes since I had first started drawing comics, so every job is a learning curve and I think in Razorjack it shows more than in any other one book, as the first story arc pages were drawn 10 years ago and the last story arc pages this year.”
And of course there is the all too human pawns put into play, against the hero that has to find a way to thwart the end of our world.
While there are elements here you will have read in other comics, Higgins take remains fresh enough to stand out.
Higgins said the title was something he wanted to do because he wanted to explore his own creation for change.
“All I had wanted to do with Razorjack was to create my own world outside of what I had been commissioned to do all my professional life,” he said. “As much as I love working on Batman, Spiderman or even the Watchmen it has always been as a gun for hire.
“So the starting point for the story itself was a long time growing, and is based on what I enjoyed most and had not done yet. Then it grew into a more personal style that incorporates everything I enjoy, SF, police procedure, horror, murder mystery, this I call, ‘hard-boiled, SF noir’.”
Higgins said he used the title as a way to encompass what he personally enjoyed ads a fan of comics.
“I was literally trying to put in everything that I enjoyed doing, stuff that I had previously touched on in my work for other companies, like 2000 AD, which has that science fiction element,” he said. “Also Metal Hurlant, which was a French science fantasy comic book that I first read as an art student, that certainly influenced me.
“And most anything done by Richard Corben influenced me, horror that has an under current of humour.”
As for the art it is clean, dramatic, with shadings which capture the darkness of the storyline perfectly. You might expect that from Higgins given his resume, but trust he does not let that expectation down at all.
With Razorjack Higgins shows he is a complete creator with the ability to envision unique worlds, populate it with compelling characters, and through that combination tell a darned exciting, albeit dark tale.
Higgins then wraps it all in a nice package artistically.
So it’s not a surprise he likes the final product.
“I have always enjoyed as a reader of comic books to be shocked, delighted or amazed; to be taken to a place I have never been to before,” he said. “This is how I tried to make the world of Razorjack. I wanted to take the readers into my world were nothing is as you perceive it to be; to unsettle the readers preconceptions from page one.
“And, talking to readers at signings and conventions, who are now giving me feed back, I appear to have achieved that.”
Readers will also be thrilled to learn the story of Razorjack is not yet complete.
“I have written a new story and created new art for the collected edition. That certainly gave me an incentive to do more in the world of Razorjack,” he Higgins. “I found I still liked these characters, and want to do more. So I am just waiting for the right opportunity. The lead character Razorjack has stepped out side of the pages of the book, and now exists with in our world. She has been created by from my designs by the master sculptor Nigel Booth and formed into a prosthetic head. She is going to feature in a variety of projects. Keep checking at, www.turmoilcolour.com and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Razorjack/56068783540?ref=ts
to see where she appears next.”
Originally published as a mini series, the Collected Edition of Razorjack is a beautiful square-bound collection any comic fan should have in their collection.
Impressive in all aspects.
Look for it at http://www.comxcomics.com/titles
— CALVIN DANIELS

-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra