the primordial FIRST WORLD of Jamie Chase!

Come see the wild and weird primordial dawn of man in 

Jamie Chase' 

First World!

Jamie Chase's First World is unique in the world of comics these days. It is a throwback to a long gone time in comics when there was a love for powerful jungle lords and when ferocious T Rexes clashed with sharp horned Triceratops.

As I look through the book I am brought back to a time when they used simpler lines and strong swaths of black ink to communicate to the reader the way Jessie Marsh’es art did in his highly acclaimed Tarzan series or the way Rex Maxon did in his Turok, Son of Stone. First World lives in a place that is also reminiscent of Kirby's barbaric 70's comics like Kamandi, the Last Boy, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Devil Dinosaur. 

from upper left; Jesse Marsh did a highly praised run on Tarzan in the 50's. In the second image you can see his impressionistic style of inking. Turok Son of Stone was a well remembered 60's comic about some native Americans that found themselves in a valley of dinosaurs. Jack Kirby did a few comics in the late 70's using the barbarian and monster theme like his 2001: A Space Odyssey, the apocalyptic Kamandi, the Last Boy and the prehistoric Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy.

In this atmosphere of primordial man that Jamie spins his tale of a clan of cavemen whose main occupation in life is to hunt for food and avoid being killed by beasts and rival clans.

Jamie uses an impressionistic approach to inking here with a reserved pallet of colors to let our minds fill in the vivid details.

Though this is not the Earth we are familiar with, this is another planet where large, plodding dinosaurs live side by side with the clever cavemen.

Jamie creates a wonderful rhythm with his blacks, giving interest to the eye as it skips across the page.

Jamie takes it one step further and has his cave men not only living with dinosaurs but also with Cthulhu's monstrous little insect brothers.

And if that wasn't enough, Jamie turns it up to 11 by bringing in the aliens!

On First World Jamie plays with the art in wonderful ways, sometimes giving us vague impressionistic images that we fill in the detail with our imaginations and sometimes giving us majestic, highly detailed images that stick with you long after you've turned the page.

Jamie mixes up the medium by sometimes using rough crosshatching and sometimes using what looks like a computer generated images like this image of a flying saucer. 

First World is not just a comic, it's an experience that you don't just read but take in and savor. It is food for the imagination and takes you to places that you've never even dreamed of.
This seems like a one shot but I'm hoping that it's just the first book of a whole series because I want to explore it more fully and live in it a little while longer.

Jamie Chase is also an abstract painter too boot! And had a show of his figure work last summer at the Matthews Gallery.