I am sure that by now we have all seen plenty of “gangster” movies, read gangster books and comic books, and hell we even listen to gangster music . Well some of us do, I guess. But the creators of HollyVOOD (http://www.hollyvoodsite.com/) claim to be reinventing the gangster story in a way that we have never seen before.

The title HollyVOOD seems to be an allusion to the foreign gangsters that fill its pages and their inability to pronounce the English “w”. But don’t worry, writers Vem (http://www.vemdirector.com/) and Steven Thadeus won’t go so far as to jumble the dialogue in an attempt to display accents. To tell you the truth, there isn’t too much dialogue here at all.

The first half of the issue spends time looking at the main character Krikor’s escape from war-torn Georgia (no not the US state) and into Los Angeles. The second half introduces a few characters including Ruzo, a greasy gang leader who likes to torture people for god knows what reason.

The story itself is intriguing, but unfortunately it is in the nature of preview issues to give a limited amount of that story before they end abruptly. The writing style takes some getting used to, as the writers seem to like to split sentences up into each frame. I know that a lot of comic book writers do that, but if you take look at this issue you will see why it jumped out at me.

And this issue definitely is worth taking a look at. The story itself is a comfortable mix of tragedy and comedy, but the bulk of its impressiveness is how it works together with the fantastic art by Anthony Diecidue (http://www.artofant.com/). Sure, it’s rough around the edges, but the style works amazingly with the vibrant colors he uses. The double page spreads really will put a tear in your eye.

As an independent group of creators, the three threw together a terrific piece of art here. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get a small-time comic on shelves across the country, so they ingeniously made their preview issue available here. Check it out!

[Rating:3.5/5]

PS- Mr. Thadeus was kind enough to supply me with a copy of the preview issue, and was humble enough not to toot his own horn. He didn’t mind tooting the horns of his co-creators, however. Vem has directed several commercials and music videos, and he is now working on some stuff for television. Diecidue is currently working with Disney and the great Stan Lee on “Time Jumpers”. $1.50 really is a bargain to get the collaborative work of a team like this. Check it out before they catch on and raise the price!

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