Avast, ye mateys. Off to the port side, ye are about to be boarded by political incorrectness... and you'll love it. Boyd and Young deliver a naughty but insanely hilarious couple of stories of piracy, unemployment and dating. The over-the-top sense of humor behind these stories reminds me of the manic zaniness of Matt Fraction's Rex Mantooth, and those who have been lucky enough to sample that book know that's high praise indeed.
It's not easy being a stereotypical 18th-century pirate in the 21st century. Doubloons and treasure aren't as easy to come by as they once were, and save for a few lepers here and there, the sight of their ship doesn't exactly instill fear in the hearts of the masses. So, the Captain decides that to tide them over, he and the crew had best try their hands at moonlighting in more conventional professions... though they bring a certain unique flair to their new workplaces.
Yount's pencilling style is a flat and slightly crude one, but it suits the one-dimensional hilarity of the characters. There's an underground edge to the book, and that simpler visual style is in keeping with it. The characters designs are basic but striking; I especially love the Captain's burly beard... notably when he lights it on fire. There are panels, though, in which stronger, more details are presented, making for a sharp and impressive contrast with the rest of the book.
It's a basic comedy premise: take characters and place them in a new and completely unconventional context, and that's what the creators do here. They dress up the drab, everyday circumstances of the reader's world with Victorian amputees and seafaring thieves. Though the silliness of the pirate stereotype serves as the main source of the humor, Yount and Boyd also poke fun at the mundane aspects of the ordinary, as well as the extremes some of us will go to in order to escape the drudgery.
There's a strong sense of comedic timing here, which may seem like an odd statement, given this is humor that's read, not viewed on a screen or stage. The creators' sense of pacing really drives home the jokes, especially in the first, shorter segment. They also employ misdirection to great humorous effect as well. If all pirate comics were this goofy and fun, they'd eclipse super-heroes as the dominant genre in the medium.
