Proof is a comic book about paranormal activity and the government agents who investigate it… sound familiar? Well it turns out that Proof is actually unique in several ways, some of which aren’t so good.
Issue #1 (written by Alexander Grecian and Riley Rossmo) contains two stories.
The first, Skin and Bones Part 1 of Goatsucker, centers around Agent John Prufrock (AKA Proof), a large sasquatch (bigfoot) who is teamed up with his new partner Ginger Brown. Think Fox Mulder as a giant bigfoot, and Dana Scully as a believer rather than a skeptic.
The two agents are called upon to investigate their first case together, which involves a Chupacabra who kills a husband and wife who were hiking through the woods.
Ginger Brown’s Big Week is presented as a second story. It is all about Ginger (Prufrock’s new partner), and how she came to be paired up with Prufrock.

I really did enjoy this comic despite a few frustrating shortcomings. The dialog has a very nice flow to it and seems natural. The characters are interesting, I like the idea of a benevolent bigfoot agent.
The artwork is very well done and really helps to make the comic stand out. The unpolished, sketch-book style contribute to the dream-like feel.
The colors chosen and the over all mood of the art reminds me of old X-Files episodes. I’d even go so far as to say that it looks a bit like Twin Peaks.

Unfortunately Proof does have a few failings.
As much as I like Agent Prufrock, I’m not quite sure why a giant sasquatch is a special government agent, or exactly which branch of the government he’s working for. Or if it’s even the government he’s with for that matter. Perhaps these questions will be answered later.
There’s also a very odd and out of place reference to Choose Your Own Adventure novels on the second page of the comic where the narration says the following:

If you think Jeanette was hurt or killed, turn to page 14.
If you think Jeanette got help from a policeman, turn to page 17.
If you think we should get on with the story, turn to page 3.

This odd attempt at humor is out of place and extremely confusing. Although I was pretty sure it was a joke, I went ahead and turned to the pages to see what I would find. These actually do match up as was claimed, but that only served to confuse matters more. I started thinking this was actually a Choose Your Own Adventure comic, but decided to read through naturally instead and quickly found out it was just a dumb joke.
The last “story” in this comic is a little disjointed as well. In my opinion the writers would have done much better to just embed this story in the middle of the first one as it takes place in conjunction with it. In fact, at the end of Ginger Brown’s Big Week, we’re told that her story continues on page 10 of the Goatsucker story. Very strange way of putting this issue together if you ask me.

The most glaring mistake in this comic is the Cryptoids.
Cryptoids are an annoying comic book version of VH1’s pop-up video. I could almost hear the obnoxious bubble popping sound each time I read a Cryptoid. Although these were meant to help drive the story forward and keep you informed, they only slow the story down. One or two of them may not have been so bad, but the Cryptoids appear throughout the issue. It’s like a constant barage of footnotes in a novel… rather annoying.
These so-called Cryptoids would be better served as a traditional narration box.

For all of the annoyances this comic still manages to be interesting and fun to read. That’s saying something. If you’re a fan of the world of paranormal investigation and grizzly supernatural murders, you should take a look at Proof.