Comic book author Cliff “Inkslayer” Dinklewitz is trying to make it in the publishing industry. However, his world turns upside down when he meets a mysterious woman calling herself the Editor. It turns out that Cliff is… a fictional character and, together with others like him, he will have to save literary works from destruction. Intrigued? I hope so, because this is Plot Holes published by Non Stop Comics.
Edit me again
Explaining what this comic is about won’t be an easy task. As I have already mentioned, our hero is a young comic book creator named Cliff. A guy who, apart from being able to draw, doesn’t really stand out in any way, just trying to get through each day. A bit of an early Neo from The Matrix before meeting Morpheus, or rather in this case – the Editor, who will make him an offer he can’t refuse (and there are many more such cultural references).
Very quickly, the man discovers that he is actually just a fictional hero of the story, which in turn is part of a literary multiverse in which all the worlds created in all existing novels and comics coexist. Cliff is recruited into the titular Plot Holes – a group responsible for carrying out the tasks of, um… editing the worlds to which its members travel so that the stories contained therein can be published.
Speaking of the team, Sean Murphy was probably inspired by The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen , because the group that will accompany Cliff on this literary adventure will consist of a series of archetypal characters with which the author tried to combine and represent various subgenres. So we have Johnny, straight from Japanese manga, who is a Gundam pilot (controlled with a car modified for drifting), trying to live according to the samurai code. Right next to it is Kevin – a hero of comic strips (similar to Calvin from the Calvin and Hobbes comic book series ), whose innocent appearance clashes with the extremely racist character conveyed by his author, which in turn may be a reference to rumors about some aspects of the creators’ lives, such as . Walt Disney . Of course, I will not describe all the members, but I will add that there are also heroes from, among others, from adventure and fantasy novels.
From one book to another
This is one of the best elements of Plot Holes , because the characters are perfectly defined, not only by the script, but also thanks to their characteristic and charismatic lines. Drawings are certainly Sean Murphy’s strong point – each page is a strange chaos, but there is also room for attention to detail, e.g. vehicles or the interior of the base. It took a lot of work and experience. We can see this by looking at the last pages of this issue, where we will see sketches of individual boards and we will be able to compare them with the completed pages.
Plot Holes is also a multiplicity of colors, created by two artists: Matt Hollingsworth and Dave Stewart. The colors change dramatically depending on the panels presented. Moreover, many details were taken care of, such as Jack’s typical manga eyes or the dots on Kevin, which were intended to remind us of the old comics he comes from. All artists had many opportunities to show what they can do. The comic book is full of the most diverse and inventive situations, from space battles to fights between superheroes, from chases in technologically incredible vehicles to adventures in fantasy kingdoms, from Robin Hood to George Washington (yes, that George Washington) – for something good for everyone.
What shall we read now?
Plot Holes is an extraordinary comic because, under the guise of saving countless lives, it takes the reader on a journey into the world of publishing. While reading, we will encounter not only fictional characters, but also real ones – the author, editor, critic and reader. It’s even interesting that this comic was originally published without the involvement of a publishing house, in the form of self-publishing. The story itself also includes vocabulary containing references to books and works related to them. After all, the team must make “corrections” or “edit” the texts. They travel through literary works in a specially designed spaceship called “Footnote”.
And the main character? For the purposes of his publishing career, he is nicknamed “Inkslayer”, loosely translated as “Ink Killer”. He is what the team needs, even though they don’t realize it at first. Not content with traveling in the show, he uses items taken from fictional universes to “fix” books. He also seems to be the personification of the author himself – Sean Murphy. The entire story is dedicated to his grandmother, who died during the pandemic. He portrayed the woman in the form of the Editor and here we can feel the depth of the story being told, because the characters also have to cope with the loss of someone close to them.
To sum up, Plot Holes is a comic book that is a kind of tribute to all kinds of literature and people who write, draw and edit words or drawings that help us break away from gray everyday life and enter the world of imagination. In addition, it is also a great adventure combining fantasy, science fiction, manga and comic book themes. The author presents ordinary people, fantastic creatures, vampires, manga and old comic book characters in an engaging way, making them incredibly unique. In an equally interesting way, he also tries to show the work of proofreaders, who in fact also have to reach the heights of their own skills to help authors spread their wings.