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This is the twin to a previously reviewed double length from Ape Entertainment, Bizarre New World. This also had a three issue series that introduced the story and characters, and this was also released in an over-sized trade paperback-like edition.

Contrary to the title, there are three stories contained within, though the middle one is only a couple of pages, and less a story than brief character building exercise. None the less, it was probably my favorite piece in the book. Maybe it was because of the Iron Man-like nature of one of the boy’s fantasy future that got me, but the art and artist were also different, making the coloring a bit more vibrant than the rest of the comic which had been, like the first three-issue prequel, drawn in a sort of sloppy, colored-pencil style. The colors are thus are a bit muted, a bit less bright and crisp than I’d have preferred.

As far as story is concerned, White Picket Fences doesn’t start out with any context. (I remember this about the previous series also.) It just dumps you into a story about three (or four) boys, living in a strange and exciting town where anything can happen. The year might be 1950, (I don’t think we know), but the comic ends up feeling like a cross between Leave it to Beaver and Evolution (the David Duchovny movie from 2001). Anyway, the first three-parter is better than this book, but this is pretty fun too. There are lots of other good things out right now though, and I’m sort of on the fence about the next three promised issues.

This was easily the “top of the stack” comic for me from this last week’s releases. I really loved the first three-issue series, and recommended it to everyone within earshot. This book lived up to those three issues. It was easily as well written and well drawn.

Perhaps the only questionable part of the experience was the format of the comic. This was packaged as a small trade paperback (“prestige format”) rather than a single issue, with a price point of $6.95. The length was probably just that of two issues, or even an especially “thick” single issue. (52 pages, including title, copyright and author’s rant on the back page.) I’m not really meaning to complain, as I was honestly happy to pay it, and especially happy to get the whole story in one package, but it did strike me that this must have been a tough marketing decision.

Read on for some minor spoilers. (But you should really read the first three comics if you haven’t already first.)

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