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REVIEW: Naughty List #3
Book Title: Naughty List #3
Book Description: In the first issues of “Naughty List” we got an origin story about Santa Claus. We also learned that over time there got to be so many people in the world that Santa could not keep up with differentiating between good and bad children. At this point the list generator comes into play. The list generator keeps a running tally on everyone. From age one to one hundred, everything good or bad anyone has done has been tracked by this device. This amazing piece of machinery was stolen from Santa’s workshop. Then it was used to determine the worst of the worst. The really bad people ended up being killed. Santa knew what was happening and was fine with it until some innocent children became collateral damage. Now Santa wants his machine back. He and one of the elves go to the race track to talk to a fence about the list generator. After initially putting up some resistance Santa gets the information he needs. It looks like a trip to New York is in order. In the latest installment of “Naughty List” we shift gears and get the origin story of our antagonist for this story. It’s a character that goes by the name of RoShamBo. RoShamBo is a freak of nature that should not exist. He’s a half human/half troll hybrid that used to work for Santa. That is until Santa found out RoShamBo was messing with children’s heads and leaving them in a catatonic state. As the years have gone by RoShamBo has upped the ante on his torture techniques and how much pleasure he takes from it. Now it’s up to Santa to find him before he adds another name to his Naughty List.
Book Author: Nick Santora
Book Format: Paperback
Publisher - Orgnization: AfterShock Comics
Publisher Logo:
Illustrator: Lee Ferguson
- Story(4.3)
- Interior Art(4.1)
- Cover Art(3.5)
- Dialogue(3.6)
- Mechanics(4.3)
- Editing(4)
Summary
While Santa is in this issue, dispelling rumors about Christmas magic as he goes along, this issue primarily focuses on RoShamBo. I liked the change of pace. Moreover I liked that adequate time was spent ensuring we understood just what kind of a being RoShamBo is. In most books we get a few panels about a new villain. Rarely do we see more than a few pages before we get back to the story.
I’m loving Mr. Santora’s eloquent yet brash way of describing circumstances. “A more vile load has never been blown”… The further we get into this story the less punches are pulled in the narrative. It makes it clear that we are talking about pure evil without skirting around that fact.
I like how Mr. Francavilla is keeping the covers simple. They create intrigue while reminding us that sometimes less is more. Extra characters or other objects would pull attention away from Santa. We don’t want that when this is his story.
I can’t say enough good things about how well the artwork on the interior pages meshes with the story. It’s the perfect balance of polished and rough around the edges. As long as this creative team remains together I wouldn’t expect anything less the rest of the way.
Even with the hero of the story being none other than Kris Kringle, this is not a Christmas story. This story is like Oreo cookies and a glass of milk. It’s too good to only have a couple months out of the year. As a geek on a budget I encourage everyone to get on the ”Naughty List”.
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