3 out of 5

Hm, a quirky duo-tone color scheme, appealing binding, an oblique, fantastic plot with only a vague beginning and end…?  It’s no surprise to see Jordan Crane and Sammy Harkham’s names in here, given an ‘assembled by’ credit, as Ralph’s work absolutely mines the same unique field of indie oddness, the almost child-like openness to story flow and development but with a world-weary adult’s point-of-view lain atop.  But Ralph’s tone is a bit different.  Climbing Out is cute.  In it, a monkey-esque little creature apparently lives a life of digging up rocks in an underground cavern for some golem-esque little creatures to haul up to the surface.  Monkey-esque’s silent pal discovers a hole, into which our lead goes and discovers an old man protecting some ‘crystals’ and a plan for a machine.

Absconding with the plans, they initially make no sense to Monkey-esque, but then enlightenment dawns and he gets to work…

No questions are answered, and though the story does ‘end’, its with that wonderfully puzzling sensibility that belongs to this group of creators, where it’s maybe funny or sad or neither or not an ending at all.  It just is, and the book’s over.

Ralph’s detailing in his backgrounds is reminiscient of Chester Brown but with a cluttered cartoon edge to it a la Dave Cooper (though certainly much less sexual than his style).  But the seeming naivety of the characters most brought Scott Morse to mind, and that’s also where it comes back to tone.  Jordan Crane always has an undercurrent of sadness; Harkham – weirdness.  Scott Morse’s stories vary in focus but are generally friendly.  And that’s what I felt from ‘Climbing Out’.  And so it doesn’t exactly elevate this particular style of story-telling to an emotion that resonates.  It just feels cute.  But the draftsmanship (and crafting of the book) are amazing, and there’s not a panel or page that feels out of place.  So it stays on my shelf, and Brian Ralph is certainly a creator to watch.  Hopefully, he’ll be able to tweak his formula a bit to better suit his particular artistic persona.