Tabitha by Neil Gibson, Caspar Wijngaard

I really wanted to like this comic. It’s from an indie publisher, and I was hoping to give them a good review, maybe get them a few more sales and fans. It won’t be from this title.

Title: Tabatha
Author: Neil Gibson, Caspar Wijngaard
Publish Date: November 3, 2015, by TPub Comics
Genre: Thriller
Source: Purchased

Publisher’s Description: Luke works as a mailman in Los Angeles and moonlights as a thief – the empty houses on his postal route are rich, easy pickings for him and his friends. Everything goes to plan until one house turns out to not quite be so empty. The situation spirals out of control, leaving the happy go lucky thieves battling for their lives. And all because of Tabatha.

Possible spoilers beyond this point.

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Percy Procrastinator says…

I like the concept. It starts out as if it’s about some thieves and how they case places to rob later. Further, one of the characters is awkward around women, and I wondered if it was going to get dark because he would get some power over women. But it was not to be.

 

***Spoilers***

 

***Major Spoilers***

 

Ready for them?

 

Tabatha ends up being a doll that the bad guy thinks is real. He has conversations with her, and he is the one kidnapping and killing the other women to give Tabatha a real body through some ritual.

The idea is very good, but the execution is lacking. I think some of the ideas are an attempt to provide a reason to read it again, but it didn’t work for me. They would show the bad guy talking to his victim from the victim’s perspective. Then later, we get it from the bad guy’s perspective, and we “hear” Tabatha’s side of the conversation. I think it was too easy to fill in the blanks, and the later dialog doesn’t add anything new, which is why I didn’t feel the need to go back.

The group of kidnappers is even a bit stereotyped, with the girlfriend of one of them being taken to be the latest body for Tabatha. At least the girlfriend is not a damsel in distress, which is nice, and the group works together to save themselves.

I give this a three, right in the middle. Some good ideas and good artwork, but marred by cliches. If I hadn’t read so much, this might have been better. As it is, it doesn’t rise above the other things I have read through the years.