ARSENIC LULLABY (May/June 2001)
Douglas Paszkiewicz
$2.50
A. Silent Comics
APR011882

Reading this book is slightly embarrassing. Not because it's bad; on the contrary, it's quite often very, very funny. The problem is that you hate yourself for laughing. You should not, absolutely SHOULD NOT be laughing at zombie fetuses and kids missing body parts; you should not find the thought of an truly inventive death row convict a humorous subject. But you just. Can't. Help it.

Paszkiewicz won't ever be accused of being a master draftsman or a gifted visual storyteller, but he knows which buttons to push when it comes to bringing the funny. Tiny zombie fetuses holding a loaded shotgun? Funny. A made-real Pinocchio bound to a wheelchair because his body isn't proportionate to his head? Funny. Starving Ethiopian humor? Well, maybe not politically correct, but funny.

This issue suffers a bit from the material Paszkiewicz includes from other cartoonists, which doesn't quite reach the same depths of lowbrow humor the remainder of ARSENIC LULLABY is loaded with. Consider this a sample, and if you're so inclined, pick up the two trades full of material direct from the publisher here.

Just don't let anyone see you reading this shit. Laugh your ass off in the privacy of your own home.

(Gus Dahlberg)

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AVAILABLE LIGHT
Warren Ellis
$24.95
AiT/plaNETlar
OCT012164

In a very interesting experiment, Warren Ellis and publisher Larry Young have cooked up a book created entirely with mobile computing technology. The book uses low-fi photographs taken on a PDA with accompanying text pieces written by Ellis on the same machine, and combines them in a slick-looking hardback package designed by Channel Zero's Brian Wood. The result is something that's not quite art book, not quite an essay collection, and about as far from comics as one can get despite its pedigree -- but it's still a fascinating read.

I'll admit: I wish it weren't so thin -- but that's mostly because I was left wanting more by the book's end. The photos are intriguing bits of nearly abstract low-res imagery, a collection of greys that suggest the photo's subject rather than define it with crystal clarity. Makes them kind of fun to look at, to puzzle over, twist and turn them and marvel how something so real could look so unreal.

But it's Ellis's prose pieces that are the highlight, I think. Ranging from introspective essays about the writer's life to swift bursts of frightening TWILIGHT ZONE-like fiction, they merge with the eerie photographs to create an ominous mood, a sense of creeping horror and wonder, from beginning to end. From the creepy-as-fuck FIRE and BUSH to the penultimate WORLD, Ellis's bleak worldview sucks you in and pulls you under.

It's expensive, yeah, but who gives a shit? It's a good book.

(Gus Dahlberg)

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BUNNY TOWN #1
Will Allison
$3.95
Radio Comix

Radio Comix have been quietly making a name for themselves as a premier Ameri-manga publisher for some time now and as a result this appears to be something of a departure.

Set in Bunny Town, it follows Bunny, a new arrival in need of a friend. What she gets is a carnivorous teddy bear, a freeloading shark and a whole bunch of guilt. If you’ve ever read Johnny the Homicidal Maniac or I Feel Sick, then Bunny Town will be familiar ground for you. There’s the same mixture of social unease and farcically brutal violence here that is so familiar from Jhonen Vasquez’s material.

However, where Vasquez's work tends towards outright horror, Bunny Town goes for social discomfort. The simplistic artwork serves as a vehicle for a story for everyone who has ever felt like the unwanted guest at a party, or ever had to suffer some deeply shitty colleague.

However, please don't think this is all grim indie social realism. The comedy is savagely funny, in every sense of the word, and suffuses the book with a manic streak that nicely offsets it’s more depressed tendencies. After all, this bunny can only be pushed so far. . . .

Overall, Bunny Town is a blackly humorous story about a bunny who wants to fit in. It'll make you laugh and squirm in roughly equal proportion.

(Alasdair Stuart)

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DEFIANCE #1
Douglass Barré/Joey Lee/Kano Khang/Zach Suh
$2.95
Image Comics

There's a war in hell.

Now, I'm a sucker for one line pitches and that's a pretty good one. The series behind the pitch debuted from Image last week with little fanfare but a tremendous idea, and an equally tremendous first issue.

So, this war. Fought between Lucifer and Lord Syrus, it ends badly. Syrus' forces are scattered, and an uneasy stalemate falls over hell. When Syrus takes steps to break that stalemate, it has direct consequences for one particular damned soul, and two of Syrus' troops.

There's lots of reasons why I enjoyed Defiance. The art and character design is stunning, the script has a dry humour similar to the best work of Christopher Priest and, best of all, it's the first part of a finite story. However, there's one reason that stands out from all the others:

Exuberance.

There's such raw enthusiasm in this first issue that it's impossible not to get caught up in it. This is what a creative team loving their job looks like, with everything from the writing to the cover design glowing with that enthusiasm. These people love and believe in everything they're doing and it's almost impossible not to get caught up in that.

A war in hell. Fun idea, great first issue. Go read it.

(Alasdair Stuart)

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FUSED #1
Steve Niles/Paul Lee
$2.95
Image Comics

A few years ago, the techno-thriller ruled the popular book charts. Pioneered by Tom Clancy, techno-thrillers were and are a hybrid of spy thriller and action movie. Bleeding edge technology meets 21st century politics and ACTION!, as they say, results.

At least in theory.

In practice, techno-thrillers are very difficult to do right. Characters always have to be fitted in somewhere and that bleeding edge never stays still for long. What's cool as hell one day is old news the next.

Oddly, it's not a genre that's turned up too much in comics. Until now, with Fused from Image and author Steve Niles. Here, it would be all too easy for Niles to rely on the standard clichés of the medium, striking a course somewhere between Iron Man and Steel. But he doesn't, and that's where Fused starts to get really interesting.

Because Fused owes more to the likes of TV shows like Alias and 24 than any comic. That's particularly noticeable with this issue, which opens where most first issues finish, with the main character in a bunch of trouble we only ever see him start to get into. This is a brave move for a mainstream comic, a medium where the linear narrative is still king and plays a lot like a pre-credit teaser sequence for a TV show. It's unconventional, makes the book stand out from the crowd, and draws the reader in. Overall, a good start.

As is the basic idea. A robotics designer, working on a "Negotiator 'Bot" for the LAPD, finds out the true nature of the project and begins to get drawn into a very new, very dangerous world. There's nothing particularly revolutionary here, but that's not the point. Niles and artist Paul Lee have crafted a story which combines the sparse, minimalist panache of techno-thrillers with an involving and sympathetic main character. Lee's art is particularly impressive, managing subtle character moments and cinematic action with consummate ease.

I want to know what happens next, and that's as good a recommendation ad I can think of.

(Alasdair Stuart)

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GREYSHIRT: INDIGO SUNSET #4
Rick Veitch/John Severin
$3.50
America’s Best Comics

I started reading Indigo Sunset out of curiosity, to see what a writer other than Alan Moore could do with ABC’s stable of characters. Also, this is the origin of the Shadow-esque Greyshirt, the subtlest hero in the ABC line-up. Rick Veitch has been the perfect man for the job. He has worked wonders with the smoky guardian of Indigo City, filling the pages with pulpy grit and black humor. I like that he’s been able to write a story arc in digestible, self-contained installments. This has been an enjoyable little series so far, but this issue is the weakest yet.

The first tale continues the origin story, in which a tragic nightclub singer is caught in the middle of Franky Lafayette and Johnny Apollo’s blood feud. I didn’t much care for this story, as the ending was pretty much telegraphed in the first page. That took me right out of the story. It’s a shame, because Veitch has a command of underworld argot and the hard-boiled dialogue crackles like gunfire.

The second tale, “Recognition!”, is a sweet-natured little story revolving around a rare sapphire that elicits love from those that would fight to possess it. It’s a quiet tale of love with an uncharacteristically humane sense of humor and some gorgeous art from John Severin. This story is much stronger than the first, as the flashback sequences meld seamlessly into the story of how lonely people on lonely quests can find acceptance in one another.

Despite the weaknesses of this particular issue, there’s a lot to recommend about this comic. The Indigo City newspaper headlines in the back of the book, for example, and how the cover art is always the cover story of the paper. This is a very clever series, and I hope Veitch can get back on track for next issue.

(Jeff Chon)

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LIBERTY MEADOWS #25
Frank Cho
$2.95
Insight Studios Group

The comic as sit-com is an idea which has been around for a while. Peter David's Young Justice plays out like this a lot of the time, as does Chris Eliopoulos' work. Structured this way, comics become funny books in the literal sense, always looking for the punch line, the cymbal crash.

It's a good way to write a comedy book, and there's a lot of that kind of structure in Frank Cho's Liberty Meadows. However, here it's combined with the "four panels then get off the stage" requirements of newspaper comic strips. The result is a series which needs razor sharp focus, decent characterisation AND some killer punchlines.

For the most part, Cho manages this supremely well. This issue presents the "Pool Party" storyline, one which suffered dreadful cuts at the hands of his newspaper editors and as a result, may well have contributed to his decision to move to comics exclusively.

As the title suggests, this is far from subtle, detailing the main characters attending a pool party held by Brandy and Jen, the female leads of the series.

Cho's artwork, combining charicature work with some superb black and white line art remains as impressive as ever and his comic timing is very much on form at the moment. This is comedy at it's broadest, but comedy that works on a number of different levels. The relationships between characters are well drawn, the jokes are nicely timed and varied and the whole thing rattles along in easy to digest, four-panel bites.

Ultimately for fans of the series, there's nothing but familiar ground here which is far from a bad thing. Liberty Meadows is an insanely reader-friendly book with very issue containing all you need to know to get up to speed. Not for everyone, but well worth a try if you haven't before.

(Alasdair Stuart)

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MY MONKEY'S NAME IS JENNIFER #1
Ken Knudtsen
$2.95
Slave Labor Graphics
JAN022175

We like monkeys here at SAVANT.

Cardinal rule: monkeys are funny. I swear to God, it has to be a universal law. I don't know how it works or why, but I'm telling you: add a monkey to any story, and it instantly becomes funnier. It doesn't necessarily make the end product FUNNY, but it's definitely FUNNIER than when it started.

And grouchy, sadistic monkeys in drag? Comic gold.

So when Jennifer, the titular monkey in drag here, reluctantly must come to the rescue of the young girl in whose care he has been placed, we get something that isn't quite action story and isn't quite straight-up comedy.

It's... FUNNIER than either of those things.

Knudtsen's work resembles a scratchier, more angular Duncan Fegredo: the world as seen through the eyes of an irritable, irritable monkey. And it pays off. Watching Jennifer is like watching... well, it's like watching a pissed-off ape bear the indignities of tea parties and playgrounds, all while thinking about clawing out eyes and feeding on human flesh. It's bizarre, but it's worth a read.

(Gus Dahlberg)

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TWO REVIEWS OF A DAMNED GOOD BOOK

INFINITE KUNG FU #1
Kagan Mcleod
US $4.00
www.kaganmcleod.com/infinitekungfu

I have a powerful weakness for kung fu movies. If I find one channel-surfing, I have to watch, no matter how bad, no matter how much I’ve already missed. Maybe it’s just me, but there’s something oddly reassuring about watching a man driving his fingers into his enemy’s windpipe. It feels good and there’s nothing guilty about my pleasure-It’s everyone else that’s wrong.

Infinite Kung Fu reaffirms my intense love for Asian guys beating the holy crap out of one another. I am all about this book. Something this unabashedly brutal can only be good. Something this daringly original can only be great. If you don’t like this comic, there’s something severely wrong with you.

This is Sir Run-Run Shaw meets George Romero. It’s the concept album that Del the Funkee Homosapien breathlessly dreams of in his fitful slumber, but dares not record. Kung fu and zombies, severed heads and spiritual enlightenment, it’s like every movie Joe Bob Briggs used to make us watch before he sold out. What are you waiting for?

In a post-apocalyptic future, man has reverted to primitivism and undead spirits wander the earth, looking for bodies to inhabit. A young conscientious objector comes under the tutelage of an undead Shaolin monk, who wants to pass on his knowledge before his body rots away. For the love of all things holy, stop buying garbage and pick this up.

Toronto native Kagan Mcleod proves my theory about Canadians: They are an odd and quirky people. His love for kung fu films is very apparent in the careful details he places in every exaggerated martial arts pose, every bit of swaggering dialogue; he even has a kung fu flick reviews page with his own unique spin on “thumb up, thumbs down.” Martial arts illustration in comics usually falls flat and fails to deliver, but Infinite Kung Fu throws me right back into Gulacy Heaven. This is what it’s supposed to look like.

This is the kind of book that makes you say, “Holy shit,” and if I read a better book this year, then I’m screwed. I’ve pretty much exhausted my gushing platitude supply.

(Jeff Chon)

INFINITE KUNG FU #1
Kagan Mcleod
US $4.00
www.kaganmcleod.com/infinitekungfu

Kung fu movies are one of the few genres where quality isn’t so much a right as an added bonus. Oh sure, when Kung fu movies are good they’re fantastic, dazzling ballets of choreography and bone-shattering violence. But when they’re bad, they’re at least as entertaining.

Kagan Mcleod gets kung fu. He understands what makes good kung fu movies and what makes bad. And, in this first issue, has distilled everything he likes about the genre into one comic and unleashed it on the world.

So, in no particular order we have:

• The impetuous student, destined for greatness.
• The supremely tough and often comic relief teacher.
• The seemingly impossible quest.
• Lots of supremely over the top fight scenes.

All built around a plot which echoes Mad Max as much as it does Drunken Master. I said it before in the review of DEFIANCE and I’ll say it again here. This is one of the most confident, assured, ENTHUSIASTIC first issues I’ve ever read. There’s such love for the material here that it shows in every page.

This is particularly noticeable in the art, a languid, stretchy style that perfectly suits the impossible feats the characters put their bodies through. People balance atop stacks of books, huge blasts of kung fu energy hurtle across the page and wise old men inhabit the forms of zombies.

Infinite Kung Fu is, to my mind, very nearly a perfect comic. It’s a fast, entertaining read suffused with intelligence, a lovely artistic style and a genuine love for the genre. There’s even a very funny page of kung fu movie reviews at the back.

I cannot recommend this highly enough. It’s really that good. Or, to put it another way:

NINJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

(Alasdair Stuart)