Jeff Smith’s art is as spectacular as always and the action pieces are great, so readers will truly feel themselves transported to our prehistory. ( )

3.5 ( )

I was surprised when I found a new Jeff Smith book at the library without having seen any buzz about it on Goodreads or anywhere I browse, really. Maybe it slipped under the radar because it is the revision and expansion of a webcomic that started nearly a decade ago and has been on hiatus for a while. Maybe no one cares because it is more similar to the middling RASL than his super popular Bone series.

Tuki is a Homo erectus man who roams the Pleistocene era hunting demons. Like the outlaw Josey Wales, he gathers an eccentric group of followers on the journey: a shaman, a wannabe sidekick and his sisters, and a dangerous but endearing mute maniac. A couple of them happen to be from different species: Homo habilis and Autralopithecus africanus.

The balance of action and humor is okay while the pacing is a bit slow and the destination is murky at this point. The format is a bit clumsy, being very wide and floppy. My wife was intrigued by my description until she saw it was in black-and-white.

I'll be keeping my eye out for the next volume. ( )