Writer: Nick Arganbright
Artist: Nil Carmona
Independently published, September 2024
Excavator #1 is a sci-fi fantasy mashup centered on Boonford T. Doggle, or Boone. Boone is a young humanoid turtle whose life is about as ordinary as it gets in a fantastical setting. Boone spends his shifts digging for junk and going through the same routine day after day. One day, however, he stumbles across an oddly shaped rock. At least in this first issue, that is all the rock appears to be. The rock might be precious and worth a fortune. Boone isn’t driven by dreams of adventure or curiosity about the larger mysteries of the world. Boone’s immediate concern is way more practical: if the rock really is valuable, selling it could mean enough money to save his grandmother’s farm.
The world around Boone feels much larger than he is, but his goal remains personal and grounded. Making the sale means leaving his home village, and Boone has never stepped foot outside the city limits. The good news is that he’s getting help from another character, but the bad news is that said character doesn’t seem trustworthy at all.
That setup gives the comic a classic adventure feel. Oddly, perhaps, there is a Star Wars energy to the comic, where the setting feels massive but the protagonist is just trying to survive long enough to figure out which way is up. Boone isn’t stepping into this story as some destined hero, and we like him better for it.
The writing is solid, even if it gets a little verbose at times. There is a noticeable amount of jargon. We find that this sort of landscape development can be irritating – a speed-hump to comprehension. Writer Nick Arganbright makes it feels less like a flaw and more like a natural part of the world-building. These aren’t (all) human characters living in a familiar world, self-evidently, and so the dialogue reflects that. It might take a few pages to adjust to the rhythm, but once it clicks, the story is easy to follow.
This first issue is focused on laying foundations rather than rushing into spectacle. A lot of the dialogue is fairly mundane, especially Boone’s conversations with the residents of Ambersgarde. The quietness works in the comic’s favor. Those scenes establish the plot gradually and give us a clearer sense of Boone’s world and his lowly place in it. By the last few pages, that slow buildup snaps into focus, and it becomes clear Boone has been nudged toward a much more dangerous journey than he initially realized.
The art is an acquired taste. It is heavily stylized, which fits a story full of anthropomorphized animals and sci-fi elements. The muted greens, earth tones, and heavy shadows make scenes feel visually dense, which means we sometimes had to take a moment to understand exactly what we were looking at. The panels immediately above are a good example. Many of the panels look great as individual pieces. Together, however, the art asks for an effort from the reader much more so than the average comic book.
Overall, Excavator #1 feels like a first issue that requires an investment. It takes its time with both the writing and the visual style. But by the end, it becomes obvious that the groundwork being laid is leading somewhere promising. What starts as a modest story about a guy trying to save his grandmother’s farm opens into something much larger, and that final sense of looming danger makes the effort worthwhile.
In April 2026, the creative team raised funds on Kickstarter so as to publish the first three issues of the title: see https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d4kstudios/excavator-1-3-a-scifi-fantasy-action-adventure . Issues 1 and 2 are available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Excavator-Issue-1-Nick-Arganbright-ebook/dp/B0DHQXFLTC
