By David Dwonch
I’d been curious about this book ever since I saw it solicited a few months back. The whole concept of a garden gnome come to life intrigued me. And seeing those funny travel commercials with that gnome who yells, “I’m on my way,” didn’t hurt either.
Despite my curiosity, I passed on the book. With a cover price of $6.99, I didn’t want to risk it. Last weekend, I stumped upon the book at a local convention, meeting its creator, Dave Dwonch, in the process. Great guy, great attitude. I figured, what the heck, I’ll give it a try. Unfortunately, my experience went downhill from there.
Gnome is a disappointment on many levels. First of all, the art is simple and unrefined, but that’s something I can let go coming from an independent publisher. The real culprit is the lazy use of Photoshop’s “Posterization” filter, which Dwonch used for all his backgrounds. Basically, he took a series of photos, applied this filter to them to make them look “drawn” and used them in virtually every panel. Making matters worse is the fact that some of the same photos are used repeatedly throughout the book (especially the establishing photo of the town). This not only comes off as jarring, but lazy as well. When these photos are put in the background and contrasted against the computer drawn (maybe they’re hand drawn, but I don’t think so) characters in the foreground, it looks like a mess.
As for the story, it’s not much to write home about either. It’s your basic “Hero’s Journey” story with the main character, Lewis, acting as the would-be hero, and the Gnome acting as the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” mentor. Even the lines spouted by the gnome stray dangerously close to Yoda territory. Toss in a forced romance and some weird monster from another dimension and you’ve got a story completely devoid of depth or weight. Perhaps the only saving grace to this book is the storytelling, which is somewhat competent and the dialogue which, at times, rolls off nicely.
As much as I like and repsect the book’s creator, I can’t recommend this book to anyone. It’s substandard in every department and has very little redeeming value. This book could have been glorious. I mean, imagine how much fun this could have been were it a comedic story about a garden gnome come to life and the boy who has to keep it a secret from all his friends and family? Instead, it turned into a boring domestic adventure filled with too many cliches. (Grade: F)
- J. Montes
Filed under: Reviews Tagged: | Dave Dwonch, Gnome, Hero's Journey, Super Real Graphics
I can see where you’re coming from, Dave. Unfortunately, I had different expectations from the book. I’m sure kids will no undoubtedly enjoy it.
I’ll definitely check out your next book. Let me know when you release it. And by all means, keep in touch!
Tom’s just being snarky. He wants to have my children.
I will say this, though. About 90% of my photo backgrounds were taken by me, and some panels were composited from as many as 15 seperate photos, and many panels were manipulated to include images from the time period. Many of the backgrounds took longer to render than if I had drawn them by hand. I think using the word “lazy” is somewhat dismissive of the process.
I totally respect your opinion of the book, but really, it’s aimed at younger readers. The “cliches” sprinkled throughout are there as winks to the older crowd. My goal was to tell a simple, straight forward all-ages story that didn’t talk down to younger readers and I think I did a decent job, but I can see how it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
You should try my other book “Special Ed” or look for “Back in the Day” later this year. They are really funny and definitely aimed more towards our crowd (ie old farts who still read kiddie books).
Though I can’t say you’ll like the art!
Using the word “bribe” is a bit harsh, in my opinion. The guy’s just trying to make a living in what he loves. And there’s nothing wrong with promoting your book and giving a potential reader an incentive.
Yeah, I know when Im reading an all ages one-shot, Im really looking for more depth and character development. Im not to sure about this Dwonch guy either. He tried to bribe me with a free sketch with each purchase of the book. Im sick of lazy, independent creators.
Hi Dave,
I definitely haven’t written you off. I’m sure my expectations didn’t hurt with my disappointment.
I wish you much success with your next project!
Ouch!
Luckily I’m a good guy.
I respect that this book isn’t your cup of java. Hopefully my previous or upcoming work will be more to your liking…