otis frampton

As cynical and bitter and disdainful that most right thinking people have become with respect to the subject of Star Wars movies over the last decade or so, it is difficult not to view the Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser with, at the very least, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. The tense 80-second teaser for JJ Abrams' sequel to Return of the Jedi stirred some of the psychic wall left erected in many viewers' thoughts after the abominable prequel trilogy seemed to have destroyed all remaining affection for the once beloved trilogy, and through the cracks has come the first sprays of that by which we can best judge cultural affection for a thing: fan art.

Otis Frampton's all-ages comic Oddly Normal has been around for a decade now, starting in 2004 as a webcomic, then a four-issue miniseries, a graphic novel, a Kickstarter-funded book in 2012, and now a brand new Image Comics series. At its core, Oddly Normal is about a 10-year-old girl who wished her parents away. Now Frampton intends to dig into the origins of Oddly, his half-witch protagonist. The new series examines what it's like to be different and how mean kids can be, and explores how the drastic measures kids take when they're fed up with that cruelty can lead to... unintended consequences.

Otis Frampton's takes on fantasy, sci-fi and superheroes should pleasure the eye tastebuds of all the Earthworm Jim and DC: The New Frontier fans out there. Frampton's got a solid Doug TenNapel meets Kazu Kibuishi look to his work, which encompasses a pair of webcomics called Escape from Planet Nowhere and The Song of Xanthia, as well as a trove of beautiful commissions...