Rodeo #2 received a glowing review from the internet’s most prolific comics critic, Ryan Carey, over at his essential blog Four Color Apocalypse. I will now shamelessly share two very flattering paragraphs from it:
The larger physical dimensions of the book likewise give Salazar’s cartooning a bit more real estate to spread out in, and the results are impressive : it’s not a stylistic quantum leap forward from #1, but there is some refinement on display here is the form of tighter and more defined figure drawings that still evoke a classical “cartoonish” sensibility, a bit more attention paid to well-placed backgrounds, and some nifty shading techniques that even include, if I’m not very much mistaken, a couple of washes here and there. It’s a good-looking comic, with the space to strut its stuff that it needs while still eschewing overt flashiness or forced stylization. Focus on what you do well, and continue to do better at it — that’s the philosophy at work here.
All of which, while complimentary, may nonetheless give the impression that this isn’t a particularly adventurous comic, narratively or aesthetically. The strange thig is, I certainly didn’t get that feeling reading it, and if the proof is in the pudding, then that’s really all the proof I need right there. Salazar is building a long-form story here, and doing so in a manner that entrenches the idea of what sort of comic he likes to make (and, crucially, is damn good at making) without sacrificing the all-important element of surprise. It’s one thing to surpass expectations as a newbie, quite another to manage to still do so an an established talent. Both are challenging enough in and of themselves in different respects, and both are challenges Salazar has passed with flying colors.
Too kind!
In other news, I might have to join everyone else and make a Patreon. It would be in the form of a subscription to my triannual zine tentatively titled “Thunk.” It just seems like the best way to do it, plus I can post other nonsense on there. Why fight the future?
Rodeo Comics | Evan Salazar 