Cartoonist: Rob Barnes Publisher: Fair Spark Books
WHAT IS IT?
A humorous, light-hearted adventure tale of two friends, a knight and a dragon, stumbling into adventures and traveling the world.
It feels like one of the funnies from the newspaper's Cartoons section, with a Looney Toons influence mixed with the Munchkin board game.
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
(Minor Spoilers)
Originally started as a webcomic, Gallant And Amos follows two friends as they make their way through a fantasy realm.
After being beset by villainous snowmen, the longer story arc starts in issue #2, as Gallant & Amos are recruited for a quest to find a book of power and battle an ancient evil.
You know that saying where it's more about the journey than the destination? That's this comic. The quest is more a delivery mechanism for wink-and-a-nod references, dad jokes and chuckle-filled, family-friendly humor.
WHAT WORKS?
Gallant plays the serious one while Amos, the dragon, is always hungry and always has a "dad joke" to share -- which really works!
The humor feels like Sunday funnies mixed with some Mel Brooks or older era jokes -- if that sounds like your type of humor, this is the perfect comic for you
Low stakes and straightforward plot make this the perfect comic to sit back and enjoy
Rob Barnes deserves a round of applause for writing, lettering, illustrating and coloring the entire comic
He also lives in the same town as some of my family!
They're my in-laws, so don't go searching for yetis in Farmington, MO
Accessible comic for all ages
Fun references in art or dialogue to fast food, Donkey Kong, and all sorts of other pop culture things
Map in the back of the comics is nice backmatter and helps give some context to their travels
WHAT DOESN'T WORK? ​
While the type of humor is friendly for all ages, some specific jokes may be over the head of folks who may not get the specific reference
That being said, there are plenty of jokes to go around, so missing one or two isn't a huge loss
If you're bothered by Barnes signing every page at first, Gallant and Amos originally started as a webcomic with each page published separately, which helps give some context for this
This also explains why the characters often reiterate previous events in the first panels of some pages early on
Some typos throughout (not many, but might take some readers out of the moment)
WHY SHOULD I READ IT?
A fun and humorous fantasy comic for the whole family, where one can just sit back and enjoy some hijinks.
WHAT DO I READ NEXT?
If you like the writing:
Trekkin' by Rob Barnes
The Family Graves by Timothy Bach & Brian Atkins
Hägar the Horrible by Chris Browne
If you like the art:
Megatomic Battle Rabbit by Stu Perrins & Israel Huertas
Munchkin, Vol. 1 by Siddell, Zub, Kovalic, McGinty, Sygh, & Holmes
ABOUT THE CREATORS
Rob Barnes – Cartoonist
Multitalented: One of the rare creators who can write, illustrate, color & letter
Lives in the same town as a certain comic book yeti's in-laws!
Has been Creative Team Lead at his local newspaper for over 14 years
HOW DO I BUY IT?
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