The premise behind this book is that spontaneous combustion
can really happen to people, but that there is a dark force that is behind it.
The stories main character Melvin has been affected by this all his life and
has dedicated himself to finding out more while hiding a secret of his own. The
second issue opens with a flashback of Melvin’s childhood in which a bully is
calling him Kelvin Melvin. It’s mostly harmless until the bully throws matches
at him and a sinister voice only Melvin can hear tells him to “Show them all.”
In the present Melvin wakes up on the lawn of the house that
exploded with him at the door step, he’s okay but still takes a trip to the
hospital. Afterwards Melvin shows the amateur investigative reporter Emily
Durshmiller his findings on the combustions. She’s apprehensive to believe him
and leaves his house with mixed feelings about Melvin and his own
investigation.
This book is strange. The first issue which also comes out
this week (if you didn’t get it on FCBD) didn’t grab me at first like I
expected. The concept is there, the storytelling is there for the most part,
but I can’t get into the characters. I feel like I don’t know them and they’re
all a little annoying. It’s okay to have one or two characters that are
annoying, hell that’s the real world, but every character that opens their
mouth is annoying at some point. I really found myself focusing on the mystery of the story and Melvin when he wasn’t being annoying. Melvin really is the
only fleshed out character and that instantly makes him more interesting and
his behaviors forgivable.
The story is written by Ghost
Projekt writer Joe Harris and this being his second creator owned book with
Oni Press. Harris has great concepts, but his characters tend to fall flat. The
main problem with Ghost Projekt is
the same problem with Spontaneous…
forgettable characters. They’re character driven stories, meaning nothing
happens without our main character pushing the plot forward and yet that
character stumbles around through seemingly random acts. Hopefully Harris will
continue to develop Melvin more than he did with the protagonists of Ghost Projekt.
The art is very good and wonderfully illustrated by Brett
Weldele (Surrogates). Weldele has a beautiful water color look to each page
that is reminiscent of Ben Templesmith’s coloring style. It works for the book
giving it a very distinct look and really distracts the reader for the story at
times. Weldele shows a great range of talents from convincing facial expressions
to capturing Melvin at different ages. It’s an interesting and unique art style
that adds a lot to the book.
The concept and underlining mystery to the book is enough to
get me checking out the third issue for sure, but after that the story is
really going to have to pull its weight if it’s going to hook me for a fourth.
If you pick up both issues you may have a better reading experience than I did
since you’ll have the benefit of reading both issues back to back with a fresh
prospective. It’s a decent series thus far, but it has a long way to go if it’s
going to stand out as indie darling.