Gulatta #3

And we're off with today's comic review Marathon! Let's see if we can get through the unread comics stack, or at least make enough progress to be on track to finish by Friday!

Title: Gulatta
Issue: #2
Publisher: Torc Press
Date: 2008
Writer: Joseph Morris
Artist: Joseph Morris

The third issue of Gulatta features a raid by OVERT agents on Big Town's graveyard, where the OVERT drill machine rudely interrupts a romantic liaison between  Medusatina (the Gorgon with a Heart of Gold) and Monsieur Namo (the Gentleman Monster). Mayhem follows, as the graveyard's guardians battle an OVERT giant scorpion robot.

This worked surprisingly well, especially considering that this issue used a cast of characters that mostly did not appear in the previous issue. The story still flowed in a nice coherent way that let me enjoy the ridiculousness of it all while still being entertained by the plot.

Rating: 7/10

Gulatta #2

From the random stack of unread comics. I skipped yesterday, so after this one I have 29 unread comics (not counting assorted graphic novels in the to-read books pile and a couple more from the school library) and 34 days until departure. Five more skip days available.

Title: Gulatta
Issue: #2
Publisher: Torc Press
Date: 2007
Writer: Joseph Morris
Artist: Joseph Morris

The city of Big Town is populated mostly by freaks, geeks, and masked weirdos. A couple of local weirdos are blue-collar monster Johnny Primitive and white-collar monster Cubicle Shark. They're having a good night of skee ball when they decide to go have their fortunes told.

The fortune teller predicts that they will be caught up in an attack by OVERT agents. Unfortunately, she predicts that this will happen only a few seconds in the future. Mayhem ensues, and it's up to Mr. Dark and the Puzzelor to come to the monsters' rescue.

This is a photocopied book, slightly bigger than standard comic format. The lettering and reproduction quality is a bit rough, but the story is entertaining, and the fight scene was a lot of fun. Things in this world are ridiculous, but they make sense within the context given.

Rating: 6.5/10

Truth Or Consequences #0

Another find from the 2013 SPACE convention.

Title: Truth or Consequences
Issue: #0
Publisher: Torc Press
Date: 2013
Writer: Joseph Morris
Artist: Joseph Morris

Three rather surreal superhero stories make up this standard-comic-format volume. Up first is "Mango-Habanero", in which Dr. Dream gives Octopus Jones some much needed assistance in defeating a toxic sludge monster. There is also another monster whose only dialogue is to repeat the word "Goat!" throughout the story. Which is actually pretty awesome.

Goat!

See what I mean?

The second story is a Jack Kirby style epic cosmic battle featuring Cactus Joe the Clown and Pengy the Penguin in their cosmic incarnations taking on a Nullaphon.

And finally, an introductory sequence set at an intergalactic burger joint introduces an impressive-looking and mysterious new cosmic being.

The artwork had a few moments where it was difficult to figure out exactly what was happening in the action, but I liked the wacky surreal feel to these cosmic adventures. The pacing was good and the characters were intriguing.

Goat!

Rating: 7/10

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #8

Another SPACE find.

Title: The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club
Issue: #8
Date: 2010
Publisher: Torc Press
Writer: Joseph Morris
Artist: Joseph Morris

The follow-up to last issue's revelations about the mysterious Agent, this issue presents the Agent's complete origin. The flashback scenes move along pretty quickly, resulting in an interesting tale, but one that lacks some of the depth of character interaction that the previous issue showed. Up until the ending, that is, which manages to pull the intensity up a notch while still keeping a good level of fun.

There was a scattering of pretty good comedy details, as well as some oddball touches that didn't make much sense but contributed nicely to the surreal feel that The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club maintains.

Rating: 7/10

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #7

Back to the pile of comics from SPACE today.

Title: The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club
Issue: #7
Date: 2010
Publisher: Torc Press
Writer: Joseph Morris
Artist: Joseph Morris

This is a very odd/surreal play on the superhero team concept and it started out so convoluted that I was worried that none of it was going to make any sense. Instead, the issue came together really nicely and included some great moments that I was able to appreciate even without the benefit of reading previous issues.

The team consists of one clown-faced part-demon (and part something else) killer, one mute penguin (not mute in this issue and completely steals the show), one metaphysical detective, two dancing fools, and one masked secret agent.

The group gets scattered to different alternate realities by way of a reality rupture, which becomes an excuse to do some major revelations about several of the characters. The action was a bit hard (but not impossible) to follow in places, but the character development was excellent once the story got rolling.

As mentioned above, the mute but temporarily speaking penguin proved to be a great character as the voice of reason for the group, and the scene where he reverts back to silent mode was tragic and powerful. The clown character and the agent also got some excellent dramatic moments.

The art includes some wonderfully odd background details, and does a good job capturing the offbeat flavor of the story. This was a very pleasant surprise and it left me eager to check out more of this story.

Rating: 8/10