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Recently, after dancing (ha) around the issue, I picked up the first full-sized trade of Mark Andrew Smith & Dan Hipp's THE AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS, another iteration of the "Rock Band has Crazy Adventures" concept-- following in the footsteps of Scott Pilgrim (kinda), Josie & the Pussycats, the Archies, et cetera.
Here's the first issue online, thanks to Image Comics.
@ the wiki.
They have their own myspace?
I really enjoyed it, even with the little problems that crop up. It starts off on a high note, mid-action, compressing down needless exposition into a quick-wit dramatis personae of Our Heroes, sets up some overaching conflicts -- including their management's stake in things -- and introduces fun, ridiculous characters. I love gangs of uncostumed kids having wild adventures for no apparent reason, peeling back the skin of the normal world -- and the Buzzards deliver.
It's also worth noting that Hipp's art improves dramatically over the course of the first trade, and I'm inclined to check out the second volume purely to see where he takes it -- his line work is far more confident and his characters stabilize into slick icons.
Problems? Only two note-worthy female characters who are mostly romantic interests, and some of the visual storytelling is muddled at least at the beginning. They're a little too cool, the Buzzards, and I'm hoping to see some development -- keeping in mind that the humour still very much drives things, and maybe that means development takes a back seat. At times it feels like "kitchen sink" writing, just throwing in random "cool" shit like mythical Mexican wrestlers instead of depth, but it still manages to be fun and frothy even when you start to think about it harder.
Is anybody else interested in these comics? They showed up in short-shorts over in the first volume of Popgun, which is where I first became acquainted with them, and Hipp also has a barbarian comic out of Tokyopop with a gutteral, grunty name that I can almost never pronounce or spell correctly -- GYAKUSHU! -- that I'm curious about, as well.
So, throwing it out there! |
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