Ted McKeever

While I can't claim to be able to make complete sense of Meta 4, there's no doubt that it's a fascinating work that attempts to maximize the narrative potential of comics in ways that wouldn't necessarily work at all in a different medium. McKeever fans will recognize many of the author's obsessions in these pages, but the arrangement and the use of the familiar pieces is new, and alternately stunning and baffling (which strikes me as an ideal balance for any ambitious artwork). This is a show more book that will require re-reading, but I have no hesitancy to devote more time and thought to Meta 4 - this is a challenging work, and (even on a first read) the rewards are many. show less

The "Ted Mckeever Library" is an excellent series, and Eddy Current is definitely my favorite volume in the series. By any measure, Eddy is McKeever's most interesting character - not a perfect protagonist by any means, but certainly unique enough to make the reader's journey a worthwhile one. And if McKeever is one of the most striking visual stylists in the world of mainstream comics, then Eddy Current is likely his masterwork - with a great cast of physically diverse characters, McKeever show more has plenty of room to let his impressive graphic technique go wild, and he doesn't hesitate to do so. This is black-and-white comics work executed at the top of the game, and if the storyline of Eddy Current is overblown at times, it all still works thanks to the brilliant eye candy. show less

The collected Transit is a wonderful look inside the mind of Ted McKeever, one of the more interesting talents floating around on the edges of the mainstream comics scene. If this narrative is occasionally overblown and melodramatic, it nonetheless succeeds entirely based on McKeever's frequently stunning visuals - he's a highly original stylist, and the clear evolution of his technique over the six issues of Transit is a brilliant journey all by itself.

This volume collects the first three issues of the comic book Metropol by Eisner Award winning comic book artist and author, Ted McKeever.

There is an unidentified plague slowly sweeping through the city. Jasper Notochord, a bored office worker with vivid recurring dreams and a voice named Enoch that talks to him, finds himself in trouble with police for unexplained reasons as the outbreak begins to spread. At the same time we follow a lonely man who hires prostitutes, a creepy guy that show more talks people into suicide, and a large woman capable of killing you with your own broken wrist bones. Something big is coming, and these people will play a part.

McKeever's art is minimalist and jarring, sharp black-and-white inking with no soft edges, a harsh and glaring universe, dark and cold. His writing style is slow and moody, lingering on moments with multiple angles a tracking shots that go on for panels and pages. In fact, the real action that occurs in Metropol doesn't even occur in this volume, as McKeever spends the first three issue just setting up not only the story and characters, but the overall tone of the work. McKeever's form of storytelling might not appeal to all comic fans, but is held in high regard by readers like me who were drawn to his other works, Stray Toasters and Transit. show less