Sammy Harkham is one of my favorite cartoonists right now. Pictured above is a great sequence from his story Black Death, found in issues 1 and 2 of his comic Crickets. There’s a simultaneous sense of both stillness and energy to Harkham’s line that I find very compelling, and his command of cartoon iconography is spot on – just look at the way he draws that guy collapsing in the final page shown above. No line is misplaced, and each one plays a role in communicating the action on the page. In a way, the same can be said for Harkham’s storytelling. He reduces a comic to its simplest, most essential elements, with every panel contributing to a slow, steady build of both plot and mood that is a pleasure to read.
Crickets #3 came out early this year, and while it doesn’t include new pages of Black Death, it’s just as good as any of Harkham’s other work, which is to say very good indeed. You should buy it.