Rex Libris: I Librarian.Written and Drawn by: James Turner
The day I read a comic that features a pistol packing librarian fighting a demon samurai over a library crad is the day I can die. What’s that? It happens in the first two pages of Toronto native James Turner’s “Rex Libris: I Librarian”? My bad. I meant the first day I see an army of partially mechanical snow men take on a libr--- That’s in there too? Jeez. There can’t be a wise cracking sparrow bent on world domination can there? Really? Wow. I’d better get my noose ready.
“The series follows the adventures of Rex Libris, the Head Librarian at the Middleton Public Library. Unbeknownst to the general public, Rex is actually over a thousand years old, and was the original librarian at the Library of Alexandria. He is a member of the the Ordo Bibliotecha, an international secret society of librarians. With the aid of the ancient god Thoth, who lives beneath the Library, Rex travels to the fartherest reaches of the universe to collect late book fees, and to fight the powers of ignorance and darkness.”
The first thing you’ll notice when cracking open the book is the odd way Mr. Libri’s world is brought to life. Completely created in Adobe Illustrator through the use of Vectors (A complex version of Connect the Dots) the result is a clean cut style is like nothing you’ve ever seen in comic form (Well, it’s new to me!) James Turner has been working in advertising for 15 years and it’s obvious on the page that he’s done nothing but perfect his style. The storytelling is spot on, if a little slow paced at first, but read in the paperback format it flows surprisingly well.
Silly without ever become grating, Rex Libris succeeds where most so called graphic “comedy” fails. It creates a believable world where our relatively straight laced heroes can bounce his working man’s view of the world off the odd-balls around him. This could have all easily collapses on itself, but Turner keeps it all the plates spinning without breaking a sweat. It’s the fact that the comedy is played on an epic canvas that it works. The heroics on display are everyday occurrences for all these characters, but they’re still given the wide-screen treatment they deserve. You’d almost believe this is all based on true events. Which it is.
The thing that will make or break your enjoyment of this brilliant piece of brilliance is the fact that Rex Libris is wordy to the point that you go “Ugh! Why are there so many pictures in all these words?”. Text crowds the page as if it was attempting to escape. It’s not the kind of book you read standing on a crowded subway at eight AM in the morning. It’s the kind of entertainment you enjoy in a comfy leather chair with iced tea and a corn cob pipe. Every now and then you have to go “Hmmm” in a slightly British fashion to get maximum fun out of it. And as odd as that sounds, that’s a hugely positive plug, and I can’t wait to read the further adventures of everyone’s favorite Kick-Ass Sesquepedalian Librarian.
NOTE: You can pick up this book and a slew of other classy indie four colour fun times at The Beguiling. All the cool kids are doing it.
The Beguiling
601 Markham StreetToronto,
ON M6G
2L7
(416) 533-9168
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