By: Joe Casey (writer), Mike Huddleston (art & colors), Rus Wooton (letters), Sonia Harris (graphic design)
The Story: The super-villains and the Cannonball Run-esque Sheriff all want to catch Butch Baker.
What’s Good: This is a series for folks who like to see a comic that is simply unafraid to say or show anything. The actual story is pretty simple: Butcher Baker is a semi-retired, American-themed superhero. Butcher is enjoying a retirement fueled by cocaine and hookers when he is called out of retirement by the government (namely Dick Cheney & Jay Leno). They ask him to blow up the prison where they are holding all the super-villains because it is too expensive to incarcerate them anymore. On his way there, he runs afoul of a Southern lawman and when his bomb fails to thoroughly destroy the prison, the super-villains are PISSED.
The main story happenings in this issue revolve around the lawman getting back on his feet and the lightning-based villain taking a shot at Butcher. But what makes this comic unique are the little over-the-top moments. For example, while the lawman convalesces in the hospital (with his 10-gallon hat on, btw), he’s watching lesbian porn (which they show) to take his mind off things. Later, the villains bust into Butcher’s blow-n-hooker hideout only to find that Jihad Jones (the kinda leader of the villains) is already there and all the hookers are dead, but Jones is having sex with one of the dead hookers and is wearing a blood spattered tutu and proceeds to plot the next phase of their revenge with his leggings pulled down to his knees (because he was having sex…) and his member swaying to-n-fro under the tutu. What a great way to show that this dude is NUTS without having to have exposition heavy dialog.
It is just insane and perverse and such a joy to see comics that aren’t afraid to tell a story. And it sure will make you snicker then next time you see a Marvel U. comic that says “M for Mature”.
The true star of this comic is Mike Huddleston. Sheesh where did this guy come from?!? There really aren’t two pages in this comic that are the same. Some have pretty standard panels with borders, the next has a bunch of very sketchy full-bleed artwork, there are panels that look like he drew them on another piece of paper and collaged them together, one page only has color to accentuate items of interest (like the pin in a grenade) whereas the next has wacky, psychedelic pastels all over the villains, etc. Again, this met my informal “test” of whether I paused in the middle of writing the review to try to find where Huddleston sells his original art (with no luck….bummer). There isn’t another comic on the shelves right now that looks like this.
What’s Not So Good: If you’re not an fan of crazy comic art or are easily offended, this might not be for you. I’d still encourage you to try it, the same way you make children at least try new foods, but you might not love it.
The story is pretty spare too. Personally, I think that is a grand choice because it’ll make this series remain fresh in my mind whenever it hits an inevitable delay, but this isn’t a Grant Morrison-type story if that’s what you’re looking for.
Conclusion: Crazy and willing to offend. Bravo! This comic also has some of the best and most unique art I’ve seen in a while.
Grade: A-
-Dean Stell
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