Comic Review: John K Presents: Spumco Comic Book
John K Presents: Spumco Comic Book (2013) is a collection of comics from the 90's as well as a new strip that has never been previously been released anywhere. The comics are by various Spümcø artists that have distinct but similar drawing styles.
You may notice a similarity between these comics and the Skadi comics by Katie Rice. This is because Katie learned her style from John K. and is a Spümcø alumna. She isn't involved in these comics, as she didn’t join the Spümcø team until years later, but it's hard not to notice the similarities in style between these and the Skadi comics.
Story-wise, these comics are very different from Skadi, however. The stories are set in modern times, in an American town, and focus mainly on two characters:
- George Liquor, a bizarre, ultra conservative, ultra-American blowhard, and
- George's nephew, Jimmy the Idiot Boy, a well-meaning but very stupid teenage boy. He does not talk but often makes various sounds and exaggerated expressions to communicate.
There are other minor characters as well, but all the stories revolve around those two in some way or another. A bit of a warning for those sensitive to what might be consider objectionable content: George and Jimmy have been around since the late 70's and became more famously known after appearing in the early 90's on Ren and Stimpy, but in this collection, they are the original, unfiltered versions of the characters. So, if you are used to the more restrained, TV-safe versions of George and Jimmy, you may find these comics to be a bit too raunchy and you may be shocked by the content.
The stories themselves are very strange and sometimes very dark, but even the darkness is portrayed in a lighthearted way, as is often the case in things released by Spumco. One of the longer stories features Jimmy working as a Turtle Food Collector—someone who finds insects and collects them to feed starving turtles. It’s a very simple plot, but this is a story that mainly focuses on all the bizarre gags such a silly concept can bring about. Another one features George giving Jimmy a remote control. This is pretty much the whole plot, just Jimmy doing this and that with a remote control. This is how these stories generally go—the authors take a concept and fill the plot with as many jokes as they can around that concept. I think that the amount that the authors can do with such simple plots is amazing and definitely one of the strengths of this comic collection.
However, I feel that the best part of these comics is the art, as it is one of my personal favorite types—exaggerated and cartoony done at its very best. The only “problem” I could see with the art is how it seems to go back and forth between being in color and being in black and white, for seemingly no reason. While this doesn't really bother me personally, I see how it could bother some people.
I highly recommend this book but with caution, it can be quite disturbing at times and should only be read by people who have or can understand a sick sense of humor and who may already be a fan of John K 's work! That being said, this is a great collection of great comics!
Has this review intrigued you? You can find out more about this awesome comic and about its author from the following links:
Interview with John K. (The Unoffcial Spümcø Website)
The John Kricfalusi Archives
Amazon Info Page (includes customer reviews)
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