October 26, 2008

A Strong Dose of Humor

(Note: Copies of the comic reviewed were provided by the publisher for review. Also, the image at the right has nothing to do with the subject of this post - I just posted it for a cheap laugh)

I love a good laugh, and have a well-developed sense of humor. Given that my life can get a little tricky and overly dramatic, I sometimes need a good, old-fashioned guffaw.

So when Indelible Comics (brought to you by the same people who bring you the Hannibal In Rome web comic, which is located near the locally-produced Chicago: 1968) sent the first two issues of their Dose anthology, I had to give it a look. After all, it's hard to review something you don't see or experience, unless it's a movie featuring Adam Sandler or Rob Schneider.

The first issue starts with a short piece by Evan Dorkin - I love Evan's work, so I can't really judge. They had me at their adaptation of Moby Dick featuring Angelina Jolie.
When I got to "60 Second Warren Ellis", I was hooked. Much of the humor is based on mashups - Superman/Conservatism (in issue 2) , Planet of the Apes/George Bush, and Matrix/Kafka (both in issue 1). Granted, possibly obvious targets...but the strength of any humor anthology is whether even the weakest pieces bring a slight smile...and they do.

The only major weakness is in some of the art - it tends to range from extremely competent to slightly amateurish. Many of the artists, admittedly, are starting out, and are very early in developing their style...but thankfully, there's a great match - the Planet of the Apes/Bush mashup has an appropriately cartoony style; there is a Shuster-esque edge in the Superman piece. But Dose is, in short, an anthology series with a lot of promise.

Plus, it made me laugh. What more do you need?

Dose # 1 and # 2 - Highly Recommended

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