Trout: Bits & Bobs
A dream, or nightmare, set in some fantasy realm where a little boy or large baby named Trout is cared for by an old man named Giuseppe Lint, head of the Lint Brothers’ Turnip Works. Trout doesn’t speak but in the first story he has a repressed memory that comes to life and starts eating up an entire town. In the second story a traveling puppet-show monster steals the souls of all the town’s children and turns them into tadpoles.
I didn’t know what to make of the story. It really wasn’t my thing. I did like the art though (Troy Nixey both wrote and illustrated, so he takes praise and blame). There’s a spiral motif worked throughout, from the long sleeves of Trout’s pyjamas to Giuseppe’s handlebar moustache. The faces and figures of people and monsters (there’s no clear dividing line between them) are quite original and there’s no denying the unique world Nixey has conjured up, but it all feels a bit like an elaborate doodle. I gather Nixey really had his heart set on making movies anyway. I’m not sure how many more Trout comics he did but while I could appreciate some of this, there was enough of it here for me.
Alex Good 
I like the cover – cool artwork.
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He’s a talented artist for sure. I didn’t care for the two stories at all. I’d like to see him just do the drawing and leave the writing to someone else.
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Uh oh, another “artist” who just wants the easy money of movies.
Sounds like he needs a trampling!
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Movies are an easy way to lose money!
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Sounds very now. Surrealism for its own sake. I can understand why it didn’t grab you.
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Yep, just not my thing. Seems more like a sketchbook or concept for a comic without having much of a story.
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That cover is very intriguing, and it indeed sounds like he is a talented artist who might want to enlist a ghostwriter or writing partner.
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Yeah, there aren’t many people who can wear both hats as writers and artists. Some people can pull it off, but it’s rare.
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