The Podge Cast

Cerebus by Dave Sim

So Cerebus. Lets get one thing out of the way first. Dave Sim. Dave Sim is crazy. Not wacky, not eccentric. Bug-fuck, rat-shit, random animal-random swear CRAZY. This is unarguable to anyone who’s read his non-comics writings. Well its arguable, and lots of people DO, but they’re really, really wrong. Misogynist + Crazy = Dave Sim. Simple fact. Which doesn’t change how really fucking good much of Cerebus is…

What started as a funny animal parody of Conan morphed into a satire on comics and then into just lots of weird philosophy, action, humor, celebrity cameos and more. Three hundred issues of it. Some of it is actually pretty terrible, having too much of the “real-world” Sim in it. Other stuff is just full-on awesome. Volume 1 here is the first 25 issues and its full of parody, barbarians, the greatest use of a fake Groucho Marx ever, violence, artists, weird women, weirder men, the Roach and more…

So there you go. Cerebus. Mostly excellent comic written by a really crazy person…

Hench written by Adam Beechan, art by Manny Bello

Mike Fulton is an ex-jock, sidelined by a knee injury, now just another blue collar guy. Trying to get buy and support a wife and kid. But he misses the excitement of football and the feeling of being part of something bigger. So when Randy Kirkman, another athlete taken out in his prime by an injury, approaches him about an opportunity he listens. And Randy introduces him into the world of professional henching. Hired muscle for costumed crooks and crazies. The new life goes well at first but when his wife threatens to leave him he quits. But then his son gets sick. And the medical bills keep mounting. And so Mike goes back to the only thing that will bring in the money fast enough. But henching costs him his job, gets him a prison record and gets him hurt.

Hench is far from the only piece of super-hero fiction to take a look at the costumed life from the henchman’s perspective. But in Mike Fulton it succeeds in creating a relatable everyman. Just another common guy working a job. Beechan and Bello’s background heroes and villains are interesting as well. I especially like the drunken Russian called the Cosmonaut and the mystic villain Hellbent. Who, ironically, is the best at looking out for his people and having well-thought out plans.

Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo written by Joe R. Lansdale, Drawn by Timothy Truman, Inks by Sam Glanzman, Colors by Sam Parsons and Letters by Todd Klein

Two-Gun Mojo was my introduction to both Jonah Hex and Lansdale. Its possible its even my first real introduction to Truman, before I found Grimjack even. Hex is a scarred Civil War vet turned bounty hunter. And thanks to various animated appearances on Batman: the Animated Series, Justice League Unlimited and Batman: The Brave & The Bold he’s probably DC’s best known Old West character…

In “Two-Gun Mojo” Lansdale mixes together his two favorite genres, Westerns and Horror. Here he uses a two-bit snake-oil salesman and his carnival of freaks that cross paths with Hex. And making them especially dangerous is that one of the freaks is the animated corpse of legendary gunfighter Wild Bill Hickock…

The story is as violent as a Peckinpah movie and darkly humorous. Lansdale and Truman are both recognized master’s in their fields and letterer Klein has more Eisner nominations than I’ve got fingers. Together with Glanzman and Parsons they craft a classic tale of murder, vengeance and dark magics…

Incredible Change-Bots by Jeffrey Brown

The not true story of the non-eternal war between the heroic Awesomebots and the villainous Fantasticons. After devastating their home world Electronocybercircuitron the two factions band together to explore the stars for a new home with a new source of energy. But a spirited debate leads to violence and the robotic masters of disguise find themselves crashing onto the strange new world called Earth. There, under the leadership of the amazing Big Rig and the fantastical Shootertron, their war continues!

While small in size every page is packed with 150% of your needed doses of humorous parody. Brown delivers a tale sure to delight everyone who has grown up watching giant robots turn into trucks and then back again to beat up ones that turn into jets. Chee choo che choo chee. Incredible change to vehicle mode and roll out!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gates Scripts by Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard, Pencils by Georges Jeanty, Inks Andy Owens, Colors Michelle Madsen, Letters Richard Starkings & Comicraft

The 3rd volume of “Season 8″ and probably the strongest. Collecting issues 11-15, with only the first written by Whedon. Which is a good issue. But Goddard honestly hits a home run with it. Capturing the idiosyncratic voice of the original series while adding his own improvements. This arc has the return of Dracula, a fairly flat character in the one television episode. But here, especially in the weird friendship between him and Xander, he’s a scene stealer. Also you have a giant teen-age girl getting in a fight with a giant robot version of herself. Also Andrew lecturing a group of Slayers about Dracula while wearing George Hamilton’s costume from Love at First Bite. And what else. Oh yeah, lesbianism. This is the arc with Buffy’s fling with fellow slayer Satsu. Which of course made it the greatest comic ever written. I have mathematical formulas proving it.

Not that everything is perfect with the writing. Aside from Dracula and the original cast few of the other characters have much in the way of developed personalties. And Xander Harris shows that he matches Kyle Rayner in being a guy no one should date. Ever. Seriously of all the people he’s EVER been romantically linked to, no matter how brief, two have survived. And one of those went gay…