REVIEWS: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari #1 & Street Tiger #1 (Amigo, Jan. 2017)

The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari #1 (Amigo Comics, 2017)

Writer/Artist: Diego Olmos

This is a creepily enjoyable, faithful retelling of the 1920 German expressionist horror film. The sinister Dr Caligari and his somnambulist Cesare visit a rural town and murder follows in their wake. Francis and his fiancée Jane are rocked by the death of a close friend Alan, but who is the killer? The sleepwalking Cesare or someone else entirely? And is the sinister Dr Caligari the true villain who pulls the strings? Olmos’s stark B&W art is exquisite and makes use of light and dark in the same effective manner as the original movie. I look forward to reading the concluding instalment when it comes out.

RATING: 8/10

Street Tiger #1 (Amigo Comics, 2017)

Writer/Artist: Ertito Montana

HOLY SHITBALLS! I fucking love this comic – it’s violent, well-written, blackly funny and pretty damn great in every regard. Imagine if you took an artist like Adrian Tomine or Peter Bagge and told them to create the most grindhouse/kung fu/B-grade schlock action epic ever and THIS would be what they might come up with...if they were HALF AS GOOD as Spanish creator Ertito Montana. What I loved about the first issue in this four-part miniseries is that I was trundling along with the two main characters in the opening scene in a sushi bar as they bantered away about food... So I was totally knocked for a loop when a dude wearing a motorcycle helmet began bashing one of the guy’s head in with a baseball bat! It was soooooo Quentin Tarantino it hurt...IN A GOOD WAY (but not for the guy getting his brains turned into mashed potato, I suspect). The change-up in viewpoints, the casual banter between petty crooks and cops – this is like a comic version of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. And what’s the motive of this helmeted vigilante with a tiger emblem on his jacket going round Nam City (love that name, by the way) and offing crooks? The front cover calls Street Tiger “a weird revenge thriller”, so that intrigues me. The next issue will hopefully reveal all. Can’t wait.

RATING: 9/10

* Both titles are available as hard copies from Amigo. I assume they’ll be available in digital format from Comixology at a later date.