“Sullivan’s Sluggers” is the newest Kickstarter-funded graphic novel by comic writer Mark Andrew Smith and artist James Stokoe. A team of washed-up baseball players past their prime travel from town to town answering whatever calls for games they can get. After what was supposed to be a routine game against the local team, Sullivan and his sluggers need to save their skins and their
very souls from the monster-infested small town of Malice.

The art is pretty fantastic. Anyone who recognizes the name of James Stokoe, of Orc Stain fame, knows how great he is with rendering fantastical elements and palettes on his own. The monsters are of the “indescribable horror” variety; they can be described, but it would just take a lot of time to. Let’s just say that there are lots of teeth, eyes, arms, human faces, gnarly fingers, and weird fleshy organ bits all over the place, often erupting out of a slimy baseball player’s mouth.

Not only that, but the colors throughout the comic are an almost sickly and putrid mix of greens and oranges and purples. Stokoe brought in another artist named Rodrigo Avilés to handle the coloring, but it is almost indistinguishable from Stokoe’s own.

These colors are all flat-on, while Stokoe usually is able to make use of grimy textures as well as colors. That isn’t enough to be a true deal breaker, though.The monsters really are gnashing rancid piles of purple organs and the style matches perfectly with the fantastical situation and horrors around the characters. Even the action scenes are very organic and fluid. The appealing art style mixes well with the relatively campy writing to produce a very compelling comedy and action story when it needs to.

The writing is pretty good except for some small bumps and hiccups now and there. The explanation for the town’s monstrous predicament is a bit far-fetched, and the bits about racism can be a bit heavy-handed. Some parts of it feel a bit rushed, and this might be because it was originally published in issues. Now and then it feels like there should be some deeper characterization going on in it, but that never happens.

This campy horror comedy has some good lines in it. The story will also keep you guessing as to exactly who will stay alive and who will end up as monster snacks, and the comic keeps that up throughout the whole story.

“Sullivan’s Sluggers” is almost a home run; being a near perfect mix of comedy, horror, action, and baseball. The story is almost there, but it could have really been pushed farther and deeper. The monster action and art is where the book really shines brightest. If you like action horror with a goofy side a la “Army of Darkness” or “Evil Dead Two”, you might want to pick this up.