Book Review: Doug TenNapel’s Earthworm Jim: Launch the Cow
I haven’t been making reviews of the books I own, mainly comic books and graphic novels, but I wanted to make an exception for Earthworm Jim: Launch the Cow and make this short review. Launch the Cow was crowdfunded last year by Doug TenNapel and delivered at the beginning of this year. I was interested in this campaign because I like TenNapel’s work and I had previously backed Bigfoot Bill. Even though I had high expectations, Bigfoot Bill still surprised me by the quality of the book especially given how quickly it was delivered.
Bigfoot Bill was hardbound, embossed, debossed, had foil, UV coating on the front cover and was printed on high quality paper. Last, but certainly not least, the story and art work were good too. Doug promised Earthworm Jim: Launch the Cow would be better than Bigfoot Bill and he delivered on that promise. There were more pages of story, the art work included more detail and the book had gold gilded edges, a page that was die cut and fold out and even a hidden message in the book if shining an ultraviolet light in a certain spot.
Many people backed Launch the Cow because Earthworm Jim was a popular video game in the 1990s – this was clear from the comments in the crowdfunding campaign. I did not play the video game and do not have that nostalgia factor, so I consider myself to be a bit more of an objective reviewer of Launch the Cow. I put story first over anything else, so when I read it a second time, I paid close attention to the story again. It was just as good as the first time I read it. The characters are introduced well, most of them are not flat and have solid arcs and the story itself is both exciting and funny. Most of Doug’s books are great for both children and adults and Launch the Cow is no exception.
Launch the Cow’s story was an improvement over Bigfoot Bill’s story (which wasn’t bad at all) and so was Launch the Cow’s art. I liked the art in Bigfoot Bill and TenNapel improved upon it by placing inkwash on portions of his pages in Launch the Cow for added tone and the colorist to work with (the colorist being Katherine Garner). The result is compelling pages that really add to the story.
One of the things that impressed me so much the second time I read it is how TenNapel knows that sometimes simpler is better when others think that more detail in the line art is always better. Doug holds off on the detail in the first main character introduction in the book. I think it works really well and it’s one of my favorite pages in the book. After a brief introduction to the Space Fairy, the reader turns the page to this spread:
On the left is a menacing looking spaceship labeled “Space Frigate Insectica” and on the right are two panels where someone named Psycrow has arrived in a spaceship for refueling on the frigate. The bottom panel is what impresses me the most – it’s a basic watercolor in silhouette form with the simple text of “receiving fuel.”
The orange and red hues in the background of this silhouette are evil and foreboding – already subconsciously, the reader knows the super villain of the entire Earthworm Jim saga is being introduced just by turning the page into this spread given the layout, art style and coloring of the spread even though Psycrow isn’t even shown (except for a tiny head in the spaceship in the top panel).
This is only page 9 of the 160 page book and there was a lot more to discover and rediscover as I read further. Earthworm Jim: Launch the Cow turned out to be the best value I’ve ever seen in independent crowd funded books at $35.00 when including shipping. It came with a whole bunch of other goodies too, like a free 24-page Finger of Poseidon book from Bigfoot Bill 2, a poster, various trading cards, and an Earthworm Jim Blockhedz.
Grade: A
TenNapel has a new campaign up and that is Earthworm Jim 2: Fight the Fish. This crowdfunding campaign, where both Launch the Cow and Fight the Fish can be purchased, ends early in the morning on October 1, 2020. I expect Fight the Fish to be just as good as Launch the Cow.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tennapel/earthworm-jim-2-fight-the-fish
