Freaks Of The Heartland s/c back

"Don't be runnin' off without rinsin' yer plate, boy. What'd you say?"
"Yes sir."
"That's right. And don't be lyin' around or heading up to yer room. You still got chores."
"Yeah, pa?"
"Don't act like you forgot. Go feed yer brother."

Boasting all the visual glory which Greg Ruth later brought to LOST BOY and INDEH: A STORY OF THE APACHE WARS, this also happens to be Niles's best work to date, far more affecting and involving than you might suspect.

It's a southern gothic tale of brotherhood, deformity and all too human cruelty, in which a young boy believes his brother is the only child in the vicinity born with an extreme form of gigantism. Huge and simple, but with all the heart his father never had, Will is kept chained in the twilight of the barn, visited only by young Trevor. But when their father threatens to put Will down like a wounded dog, Trevor finds a strength and determination he'd never imagined himself capable of, Will discovers that he was never alone, and the local farmers form a posse to end their secret shame once and for all.

Niles wisely keeps the script to a minimum, leaving us to absorb the mood of this gorgeously rendered, poignant tale about standing up strong no matter what the odds, or indeed the cost

Features some of the most fluid figure and wash work I've beheld since Jon J. Muth and Kent Williams at their peaks.