Smash – Review
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by D L Robertson
One of the joys in life is discovering something new. All too often when scouring the shelves at the local comic book shop, what you are seeing are clones. Take a story, change the name of the city, character, maybe change the sex but it is the same book right beside the other one still on the shelf. Mayhap I’ve also become somewhat jaded. What, with the constant relaunch you find in comics these days, folks returning from the dead or what have you, comics with some exceptions, have lost their spark.
Thankfully there are some that are new, told in a different way, set in a different medium, and not constrained by corporate regulation, or years of mythos. The book I’m talking about is SMASH! This story is created and owned by the brother tandem of Chris and Kyle Bolton, and can be found at smashcomic.com. Already an Eagle award winner, and soon to be found on the shelves of a comic book shop near you, this book does just what they say it does. It puts the fun back in comic books.
Smash is centered around a ten year old boy named Andrew Ryan. The feel, narrative, and color do nothing but reinforce this idea throughout the pages. Starting with the dark colors of the class room he is jailed in, to the brightness of the windows in the next frame, I was instantly brought back to yester year and my own view of life at 10. The scenes are from his level and we are often looking at knees and up at people. 
Add the semi-magna style and what you get is a whimsical yet vibrant look at a child’s life. The dialogue is spot on and sounds like a day in my house with my daughter.
This is a superhero book, but because of the age of our protagonist it’s not what you expect. Andrew, like most kids, doesn’t have a plan, he just does, and in doing, he makes being a superhero look easy and at the same time hilarious. I don’t want to give too much away but his joy in flying and the consequence of doing it had me laughing out loud. How he deals with the school bully, and his satisfaction at the outcome is equally as funny. It’s the simplicity of his view on the world that makes this book work, see problem, see answer, do it, and never once think of the consequence.
The only drawback to this book if it can be called one, is watching a ten year old run around in tights and be subject to the violence that happens when being a superhero. I’m pretty sure if I wasn’t a parent this wouldn’t be a big deal, but as the parent of two younger ones I do find myself cringing at some of the panels. Has it kept me from reading the next panels? No, it hasn’t, or the next one or the next one or the next one and so on.
All told, this book is a perfect mesh of art, story, and character that has been missing from the mainstream for awhile now. It literally smashes the age gap found with most cape books, as it can be enjoyed by preteens to old codgers like me. Although Smash will soon be published by Candlewick Press, don’t wait until then, head over to smashcomic.com and read this book today.
Also you can read our world exclusive interview with Smash HERE
Or our other comic reviews in our REVIEW SECTION
2:35 pm
I completely agree with your assessment DL! While reading the answers to my questions in the interview i could not help but get excited all over again as well. Smash is brisk, fun and brilliantly plotted and illustrated. No print book fan can dispute the quality of this superhero yarn.
8:12 pm
Thanks for the kind words, D L! We’re honored by such a great review!