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This is a black and white anthology title done in a nice square bound 152
page format. A little smaller than a normal sized comic book, but
definitely big enough to enjoy. I'm going to go through the stories one by
one as they appear in the book.
Captain Camel & The Space Chicken by Art Baltazar
We get a pin up page, then a full page explaining the current story so far
and another near pin up page to start the story. When they only have 12
pages to work with, I really wish they wouldn't be using fillers. This
issue they run into monsters and defeat them. There is a little more to
it than that, with some humor added. Art's style has very big panels with
cartooney artwork. Personally, I prefer smaller panels so we could get
more story out it. But that said. there is nothing 'bad' about the story or the
artwork.
40 Winks by John Peters
Starts off with a pin up and a 'where we are' explanation page. This is a
very wonky story. It involves a trial in a fantasy land where the laws are
very different. John uses some sight gags that didn't work for me because
they were too obvious. Example being a lawyer saying "The Defense
Rests" while sleeping in a bed. In the background of all this, is the main
character telling us this story from a coffee shop to some animal friends.
I don't think John's art style fits this type of humor, his art looks
somewhat serious while presenting slapstick. We also get a non-related
one page joke from Peters, which is half decent compared to other one-page
jokes done in this book.
Radiation Man by Pam Bliss
We get 10 pages of Radiation Man is.. (fill in the blank). Among those
used is an irrational fear of mice, had a bright idea, gives exact
change. All with panels that are supposed to be funny showing a man in
a radiation suit doing things. The artwork is decent and fits in with this
book. This didn't work for me, perhaps the next thing Pam does will.
Stardust and Thor by George Broderick Jr.
We get the traditional pin up that explains who the two characters are.
In the beginning, we get a mad scientist with devious plans for
Stardust and Thor. George tries to do these stories without any
dialogue and has to go the long way around to explain things,
sometimes. But it's all done in a good way. The long way to explain
things is used later in the story with a great comedic effect. A
traditional story but done very, very well.
We get a 2nd Stardust and Thor story where they go to a park to play.
The story abruptly ends with a "You finish the story!" page for people to fill
out. A nice things for kids to do, inspire their imaginations. Although
I'd be interested in seeing the most inventive solution that a kid might
come up with.
Stormfield by Wes Alexander
This is a story about two kids, Dalton and Alex owing the IRS money
for their lemonade stand. It's geared to adults more than kids.
This is especially true when Wes adds a Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinski
joke. The IRS are extremely villainized to the point where they are
drawn as Satan. Anyway, there isn't much moral to the story other than
the IRS are evil bastards. Sorta funny in how it ends that way though.
I really like Wes AlexanderÂ’s art style. I wish more artists would
follow his lead. He fills his pages with story, using simple panels
and layouts. He also does a good job as a writer, right off the bat
letting us know who the two main characters are. Much preferred than
the 1 page pin ups that are usually done in other stories.
Mr. Beat by Chris Yambar
This story is about 3 campers telling stories about Mr. Beat. They
take their obvious sources from religion, sci-fi movies, and comic
books. This particular story wasn't for me but others might like it
more. The layouts of the story are pretty diverse, going from large
panels to small to doing different stuff. Chris Yambar packs more
story into his panels than many other contributors to this book.
Boy and Dog by Jamie Cosley
I love Cosley's art, I just wish he wouldn't make everything a pin up.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Boy and Dog has a lot of
potential but he wastes a lot of space on a the barest of stories. Chris
also provides some other stories not related to Boy and Dog. One is
about a cartoonist which is a nice little tale. Then 3 one page bits that I
didn't think were funny.
Fire Breathing Pope by Chris Yambar
Again we open with a pin up, but this one has some explanation about
the character that makes for a good intro. At the beginning Chris
Yambar writes a small bit explaining this feature. It involves the KKK
going after black people (they look like bugs, but everything in this
series is kid friendly cartooney). The Pope saves them, obviously. How
this is done can upset some people, also problematic is the last page pin
up showing the black people eating a watermelon. Chris clearly means no
harm in this tale and has already heard about it from others, hopefully
those that would be offended will miss this. After that we get two one
page bits, one being a humorous checklist of spiritual personality to
determine your afterlife. The second is information about the Pope, I
think I've seen this one before but I might be wrong.
Eep by Dave Mazure
Pin up page to start. Then 3 pages of Eep bouncing around through
blank panels doing some small wall breaking by bouncing around the
same panels. Then Eep enters a story of sorts involving a mouse, cat
and dog. This is fun to watch. After that, it's another 3 pages of an
old lady talking to Eep on a park bench. It's a simple but sad story. Eep
really improved as the stories have gone on.
Chuck the Ugly American by Mike Bocianowski
This is a story about Chuck chasing a fly around his house and hurting
himself in the process. The injuries were too unbelievable for me to find
funny. But the story does have an unexpected ending, which is really
nice. I like Mike's art, he does simple layouts, good figures and makes good
use of simple gray & white colours for this tale.
Click Track by Scott Roberts
We start off with a page telling us what happened in the 4 previous
episodes. We then continue on with the adventure that has some action,
humor, drama, mystery and suspense and a cliffhanger ending. There are
some surprises in here, particularly with Billie Boyd as we meet her
boyfriend and find out there is another side to her tough exterior. Click
Track reverts to his funny, grumpy attitude too for a bit in here. I liked
this story a lot, maybe better than anything else in here. Scott's work is
great as well, makes decent use of his space to tell enough of a story
that we don't feel robbed.
Overall I found more stuff I didn't like than I did. Most of it was
just my personal taste, so it doesn't mean the book was bad. I give
this a 3 out of 5 stars.
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