All New X-Men artist Stuart Immonen and writer wife Kathryn get experimental in their new esoteric one-shot Snipe, out this week via ComiXology Submit. But is it a bullseye or wide of the mark?

Publisher: Immonen Illustrations
Writer: Kathryn Immonen
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Price: £1.49/$1.99 from ComiXology

Originally conceived as a limited edition print book Stuart and Kathryn Immonen’s Snipe is part of a long term project by the Immonens to ‘continually explore  comics and experimental story telling’. Released via ComiXology’s indie publishing arm, Submit, Snipe’s landscape orientation is inherited from it’s print predecessor, which makes it perfect for a tablet screen, and is then split into two very distinct, unconnected stories – both of which involves some thematic connection to the books title.

In Snipe 1 we follow a wildlife photographer and his rambling thoughts as he wanders through the woods in pursuit of his next target. Its meandering tone feels very stream of consciousness and dream-like with Kathryn’s script allowing just enough detail for Stuart to draw some stunning woodland landscapes and birds to illustrate the events. Not a lot happens, although there is a nice twist at the end, but it is a really nicely realised short story, the kind of which we normally love reading in bigger anthologies, and so works perfectly here. Of the two books, Stuart’s artwork is closest to his mainstream work here in part 1, but it’s given a dose of indie sensibility with its duo tone colour palette which looks sublime and gives the book a really unique feel.

Snipe 2 meanwhile follows the (possibly true) story of a celebrated Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä and his activities during World War II. Written with a mix of long form text and bullet pointed historical facts, it is illustrated with infographics, map detailing and the odd character sketch, and is very reminiscent of David Aja’s work on Hawkeye (which is never a bad thing!). Although not the most startingly original style in this post-Hawkeye world, it still looks amazing as Stuart is a talented enough artist that this doesn’t feel completely derivative and like he is passing off Aja’s work (If anything Aja should be looking over his shoulder in case Marvel want to replace him!) It also better suits the more serious subject matter and gives the story a sense of gravitas it wouldn’t other wise have, especially with it’s smart of use of minimal colour.

Of the two, Snipe 1 feels the most conventional, despite it’s rambling plot, however Snipe 2 does feel like a very bold experiment in how to present a story and is very slick and stylised. At £1.49/$1.99 for these two stories you do end up feeling as if it lacks a little something else in terms of quantity (perhaps one more story would make it feel more substantial and like an actual anthology), however it is 32 pages and the quality is second to none. When read together the is a really interesting glimpse into the what top comic creatives can do when the rules don’t apply any more and the kind of thing we wish more comic creators would use the [relative] ease of digital publishing to allow us to read.

“Sitting just on the right side of self indulgence, Snipe is a really interesting exercise in unorthodox comic story-telling that holds back from full avant garde weirdness but still manages to produce something fresh and original. Fans of their mainstream work may bemoan the lack of action and capes, but as a showcase of the Immonen’s ideas and new approaches to story-telling this is fantastic – let’s just hope this is the first of many more experimental projects like this!“