IT_CAME_03_CoverIT CAME 2 & 3
Writer & Artist: Dan Boultwood
Publisher: Titan Comics
Reviewer: Rob Patey (aka Optimous Douche – Ain’t It Cool News)

IT CAME…all over the country side. IT CAME…and we saw misogyny was alive, well, and British. IT CAME…and didn’t even offer a towel for clean-up. Confused? Join the club; the characters of IT CAME, the story of a giant robot come to terrorize the 1950’s English countryside live in confusion throughout all three issues of this hilarious miniseries.

Boultwood, their creator, paints a canvas of double-entendre, giving a modern sensibility looking glass at a time when women were merely objects of affection and men were always right and in charge. I compared the first issue to Mystery Science Theater, but the more I think about it that’s the lazy man’s slugline. Boultwood has done more here than simply shoot holes at poorly crafted movies like Tom, Crow and Joel used to do. He has enveloped himself inside the 1950’s B-Movie and develops a compelling narrative from the simple concept of a pissed off giant robot.

The characters are what make IT CAME a delight. Dr. Boy Brett is a master of science. What kind, don’t ask, I don’t think even he knows. However, he has a pipe in his mouth and patches on his elbows so he must be really smart. His assistant, the lovely Doris, serves as the cheesecake and piñata for all of Boy’s well-intentioned in flattery, but still obscenely misogynistic analyses of the situation and the world. Together, the two discover the giant robot, its mothership, and what they have come to harvest.  Here’s a clue what the aliens are looking for: it can only be found in Britain – it’s never been dunked, but often gets moist – it helps to cover a flaw that medical plans have painfully ignored.

This isn’t about the destination though; it’s about the vicars with vices, the bumbling British military and the delightfully ridiculous ole’ boy, ole gal and ole badger quips Dr. Brett throws out whenever he addresses someone. It’s also about the presentation. Boultwood keeps the B-Movie theme alive by placing himself as the director and taking many breaks for old time advertisers and behind the scene moments with the stars.  These little niceties help keep the tongue in cheek alive and a DVD extras feel in a time when extras were merely fodder for the casting couch. Boultwood is also no slouch on artistic duties, while definitively cartoon in nature he has a keen eye for detail when warranted – when things go all alien, you can see that the cartoons in prior panels are a stylistic choice as opposed to a crutch. Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the coloring in this book. There’s a blue he to all the pages that are reminiscent of old movies and England.

IT CAME is just one morsel of the phenomenal work coming out of Titan Comics. The older properties like FIRST KINGDOM are perfect hook to get readers engrossed in original pieces like IT CAME and NUMBER CRUNCHERS.  Give Titan a chance, even though they came out of nowhere this past year they are definitively moving somewhere in 2014.