I’ve been reading comics longer than I’ve been reading books, but I’ve never posted a review on any of them. That wasn’t decision I made, it just had never happened. Until now.
I wanted to post about Ruinworld because I’ve met the author/creator a few times at comic book conventions, and he’s just a down to earth, indie guy. He does it all himself and he does incredible work.
Ruinworld is a fantasy tale following heroes Pogo (a pig) and Rex (a fox) as they search old ruins for treasure. Despite the fact that Rex is a badass who can battle massive tentacle monsters to the death, these guys aren’t living large. They usually just find junk. But with the story that begins in Chapter 1, they finally find something worth finding, and now their adventure truly begins.
Derek Laufman does a great job of injecting a lot of humor into what I can only assume is a pretty serious situation. I’ve never been treasure hunting with a fox and pig in a world packed with monsters, but I find it hard to believe I’d be giggling while doing it.
My favorite line of the book was Rex lamenting over a broken sword: “You were my favorite sword, Slicey. We had some wild adventures together ol’ pal…”
And if I could just cheat for a moment and talk about the other book I bought from Derek, you have to check out this art book.
I was a big fan of his first art book. It sits on my desk at work and serves well when I need a momentary creative distraction. As good as the first book was, number two is even better.
His art style is playful, yet badass. He made superheroes cute, but they still look like they could kick my ass. Kind of like a performing bear. It’s cute and fun to watch, but you were ever alone with it you’re going to find out just how hard you can cry.
You can check out more of Derek’s work on his Instagram as well as his website, where you could also place an order to own some art for yourself.
Fun fact about this post: Every time I wrote Laufman my computer tried to autocorrect it to Kaufman.
Wow the art is amazing!!!