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Tuesday, August 03, 2004
A review of Pope & Pig #2 and then some other stuff
Before I review Pope & Pig #2 from Load World Comics I'm just going to write a little bit about the argument going on at Fanboy Rampage about Michael Chabon's keynote speech to the Eisners calling for more comics for kids (I wrote a bit about the speech itself in my report about the Eisners).
First off, don't read all the comments in the comments box. You will want nothing to do with the whole world of comics for the rest of your life (and trust me that would be a bad thing). The only one you really need to read is the response from Heidi MacDonald. I will add to her statement by saying one of my earliest exposures to comics was in the pages of Disney Adventures and here I am today, still reading them. I fear that many of Chabon's critics (including Mark Millar, who has done many books I have enjoyed but whose internet presence I find more and more unpleasant) fall victim to possessing a narrow mind in thinking that kids reading comics is a phenomenon of the past. I am of the opinion that the occurrence of more people, of any type, reading more comics is always a good thing and never an impossible or improbable one. But then again, I’m not one of those marketing whiz-kids running Marvel or DC. I suppose no one’s perfect.
But never mind all that stuff, it’s time for a review of a comic I picked up in the Small Press Area of Comic-Con.
I went to their site and that’s the largest picture of their cover I could find. I even tried Googling for a larger picture but I couldn’t. It’s a simple cover, though, you’re not missing much.
Pope & Pig #2 by Sam Tannen is the only book in the series I have read. You can imagine I was quite happy finding out that it contains one self-contained story, entitled “I’m Gonna Git You, Fucka,” along with another story on the back cover. The plot deals with Pig’s anger and eventual jealousy over losing a woman named Jabjab. After a hot date Ms. Jabjab dumps Pig cold for some musician named Rick, another pig. After confessing his anger to his roommate Pope (who, according to Load World’s site linked above, “happens to be named ‘Pope’ and also happens to enjoy dressing in gowns and large hats”) decides to stalk his ex-flame and this Rick guy. Pig spies them all over the place, even witnessing Rick perform cunnlingus on Jabjab in the same room (and to think, I was just pontificating about kids reading comics). I won’t ruin the surprised ending, but I will share that even one of the characters in the book remarks on its unexpectedness. It’s just that absurd, but in a good way.
Tennan’s art is very simple (unlettered samples of the book and other issues are found here). It reminded me of the work of Sam Henderson and Tom Hart in its effectiveness in crudeness. The dialogue has a fun, quick pace to it that lends itself well to the comedy. The scenes of Pig’s stalking developed a great rhythm that made it all the more amusing. Tennan is a cartoonist that works well, very well, within his limits. The book reminded me of a cross between the animated show Home Movies and its fellow Adult Swim shows from the Williams Street studio. There is plenty of bizarreness in the book, but it still finds room to feature some appealing characterization.
The only real problem I have with the book is the computer lettering Tennan employs. It never looks good but here, among the simplistic artwork, it seems especially out of place. Eventually I got past it to enjoyed the rest of the book, but others may not be so forgiving.
So far there are only three issues of Pope & Pig, as well as the weekly strip Load. I hope the comic books get a wider audience; I could see it being quite popular with the Jhonen Vasquez and/or Adult Swim crowds.
Look at that, I started my post with a large audience the mainstream comic world ignores and end it with another. Funny how things work out that way.
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