Harbor Moon tells what could be the cliche tale of a small town and it’s secrets. Like other stories about small towns, Harbor Moon’s secret is in jeopardy and then revealed upon the arrival of an outsider. That is where the similarities to the stereotypical small town harboring a secret shtick ends. In Harbor Moon the outsider is not an enemy and direct cause of the town’s secret to be shared instead his role is the exact opposite.
Unlike my other reviews, I will try to keep this one spoiler free and avoid giving a play-by-play of the graphic novel. As stated earlier, the town of Harbor Moon is hiding a secret that involves every member of the community. Many times stories like this involve towns hiding the deeds of one evil person to protect the whole community, but not Harbor Moon. The town itself was built upon the secret in which it hides and everyone who lives there is involved in protecting it and each other. To keep their secret safe the members of Harvest Moon do not take kindly to strangers and do their best to steer them away using any means necessary. It seems as if the town has been successful at keeping outsiders away, until a soldier who just returned from Iraq pays Harbor Moon a visit.
Timothy Vance received a phone call from a man who claimed to be his father asking him to come to the small town in Maine. It seems after returning from the war in Iraq, Tim has been doing some soul searching to find his role in society, like many soldiers who have returned from battle. Upon hearing the message, Tim was eager to meet with his long lost father and departed to the small town. Immediately upon entering the town of Harbor Moon, Tim is met with the town folk’s “normal” attitude towards strangers. The town’s reluctance to help Tim find his long lost father does not scare him and unlike the others who have visited, Tim refuses to leave. Tim’s refusal to leave and the town’s determination to keep it’s secret plays out beautifully throughout the book giving clues about both the secret of the town and the mystery of Tim’s missing father.
Harbor Moon’s secret may be predictable, so predictable the official website openly shares it, but the way in which the story is written and paced makes it easy to sell that the town is/was very successful at keeping the secret hidden for such a long time. While the story could easily be that of one featured on FOX’s Fringe, I feel that it would worked well as an ongoing series. Ryan Colucci and Dikran Ornekian write each character and the town itself, with such care and detail that some of the events in the end seemed rushed. I could easily see the story of Harbor Moon stretching out over 12 or more issues allowing the writer to expand on his strengths. Unfortunately doubling the page count to 12 issues would not address the issues I had with the art.
I reread Harbor Moon twice after being confused by some of the art upon the first reading. Pawel Sambor’s depiction of the human form in this book was inconsistent, either leaving out detail, or sometimes not giving enough detail to determine what character was on the page. After being contacted to review the book I checked out Sambor’s website and was impressed in the detailed pencil and ink work on display. Once I opened the book I was surprised that the pencils and inked human characters in the book were lacking detail and many of the men all looked the same, the opposite of what I saw on his website. At the same time though, I was impressed by the coloring scheme and layout of each page. All other aspects of the art such as the coloring, depiction of action, and the beautifully rendered werewolves were all quite impressive. After reading the book the first time, I found the art distracting and still had questions related to the plot so I decided to reread the book. The second time I read the book slower, taking time to look at each page as a whole instead of quickly moving from word balloon to character across the page like I did during the first read. After reading the book slower paying more attention to bigger picture, I found the art more interesting and unique when looking at each page as a whole.
Harbor Moon is a book that is meant to be read slowly to fully comprehend the story and appreciate the detail both the writers and artist put into their tale. As a reviewer of mostly superhero comics, this wasn’t a book I would have picked up on my own, but the story and writing held my interest until the end. After finishing the book the first time, I had a feeling that there was either something missing from the book or that I missed something while reading it. There was something about this book that demanded that I read it again. Upon a slower and more careful second reading, I realized that this book was more than just another comic. Maybe it’s the writers’ experience in the film industry, but there is more of a movie feel to this book than comic. That being said, I would love to see Harbor Moon translated into a traditional monthly comic with Mr. Sambor providing the art for covers. If you are a superhero only comic book fan that can open you mind to a different style or a fan of the horror genre, I recommend checking out Harbor Moon.
Check out Harbor-Moon.com for more info on the book or go to Amazon.com to preorder the book.
