My Christ, but these guys are demented. Andrew Boyd and Ryan Yount are twisted... but in a good way, and there's plenty of evidence to be found in Scurvy Dogs. A lot of comics fans are enjoying the humor of DC's Formerly Known as the Justice League. The politically incorrect, over-the-top humor of Scurvy Dogs is the drunken uncle of that humor comic, the uncle who's fun at parties but always has a little too much to drink and ends up with some form of bodily fluid all over his pants by the end of the family reunion.
Yeah, in this case, that's a good thing.
Captain Blackbeard and his men enjoy a much deserved break at their favorite watering hole, Bob's Pirate Den, but their night of drunken debauchery and karaoke is disturbed by an unruly crowd in the back: monkeys. The furry little bastards rain all over the pirates' somewhat effeminate parade, and the seafaring plunderers demand revenge. They follow the monkeys to their island home, and they make shocking discoveries about their culture and the secret they hide behind a big-ass wall.
Pirates and monkeys... haven't I been here before? Oh yes, in the pages of Ken Knudtsen's My Monkey's Name is Jennifer. Boyd and Yount bring the same surreal, manic quality to the meeting of these bizarre pop-culture mainstays as Jennifer's creator does, but they get even sillier about the whole thing. Sick and silly, to be honest. The truly bizarre aspect of the story is that the monkeys actually represent what passes for civilized human society today. The monkeys are America, and the pirates -- whom the reader roots for -- are really terrorists who just don't like that the monkeys are having more fun than they are. It's a clever piece of writing that goes out of its way to hide its clever quality.
Yount's artwork boasts a simple tone overall; the backgrounds are lacking and the character designs, for the most part, are rather simple. But there are moments when he breaks out of that mode. The Vikings from the Future look great (I want to see more of them), and the artist's incorporate of photostats and other media into his simple linework works quite well. There are moments in the art in which a Dave Gibbons influence is apparent, and I'm even reminded of Golden Age Batman artwork -- when it was dark and twisted -- at times.
One last thought: when pirates watch Star Trek shows, who do you suppose their favorite character is? I'm guessing it's Yar.
Forgive me.
