2 out of 5

Artist highlight books in comic form are a pretty sweet idea.  DC’s ‘Solo’ title did this very well.  It’s different from a sketch book because you get to see the artist funneling their talents through the writer’s pitch for a story, and since you might’ve come to know the artist through the same format, it can encapsulate exactly what you dug about whichever creator.

Rossmo’s art has certainly been a boon to the books that introduced me to the name – Green Wake and Debris, both written by a growing fave of mine, Kurtis J. Wiebe.  The style of each book was incredibly notable, and Wiebe seemed to adapt his writing style to accommodate the look for each title.  It should be noted, though, that despite the uniqueness, each book did suffer a bit when trying to depict action.  It should also be noted that Rossmo didn’t really change too much, it was more like a surface change, Green Wake being more painty and surreal, Debris more elongated lines, but both had similar character structures and a telling sketchiness.

Dia de los Muertos extends the artist highlight one more beat by focus all on the day of the dead, or at least concepts we might relate to that – ghosts, demons, etc.  It’s presented in an over-sized format on nice thick papery pages that really let the earthy-tinted palette shine.  But: the compilation becomes incredibly questionable because… well, it doesn’t really highlight anything.  Yes, Rossmo drew all the stories in all three issues, but none of the tales (none of them) are particularly compelling, save (okay, almost none) the last issue’s Kirby-gone-wrong tale by Joe Keatinge, which is the most original story in the collection and makes Rossmo step the most outside of his somewhat normal style by making him depict big ol’ Kirby gods.  Otherwise it all looks pretty similar and reads pretty familiar.  The writers don’t seem to be really shaping the work to match anything, just contributing random ghost stories, and there’s not any particular ghoulie or panel that shows Rossmo in finer form on any given page.  I’m not sure what I was expecting or hoping for.  Maybe if the topic hadn’t been limited, the writers would’ve stretched Rossmo more, and maybe Rossmo felt compelled to keep a similar look to things to enhance the theme.  Either way, choose the issue with your favorite writer, read the book they appear in, and you’ve experienced all three issues.