You know what? Cowboy Wally has a kid sister, but she's smarter than he is and a helluva lot sexier. Whiskey Dickel is a project that defies description. It's a titillating story about being true to one's dreams and oneself. It's a media satire. It's a dramatic comedy. It's definitely bizarre and thoroughly unique. To be honest, there are elements in the book that didn't work for all that well, but when it comes to Whiskey's extreme characterization and the playful dialogue, Mark Ricketts hits his mark, as does the Bruce Timm-inspired artwork of Mike Hawthorne.
When her mother died shortly after her birth, Whiskey Dickel was left to be raised by her father, who envisioned his little girl as a pretty little angel. But Whiskey's grandmother, Mamaw, filled her head with the thrill of rodeo, the importance of following her dreams without letting anyone or anything get in her way, the different between right and wrong and the means to ensure the former wins over the latter. Those lessons have shaped Whiskey into an international media sensation, and an adventurer without equal.
Hawthorne captures the extreme characters that popular Whiskey's world quite well. His cartoony style suits the lighter and oddball tone of the book perfectly. The Bruce Timm influence in his work serves to bring out the title character's playful sexuality. The figures are all quite expressive, and despite its more over-the-top qualities, Hawthorne's artwork captures the quieter, sadder moments of the story quite well.
The other visual compenent here is a series of pinups by a variety of artists, bringing other "international cowgirls" from Whiskey's world to life. Furthermore, that artwork is accompanied by writeups from various comics scribes as well. I have to admit, though, that I found that the extended pinup section got in the way of the cowgirl fun rather than adding to it. When one plunks down the cash for a larger original volume like this one, filler material isn't the sort of thing one is looking for.
Ricketts -- who impressed with this radical shift in tone as a followup to his brilliant original graphic novel, Nowheresville -- offers up laughs aplenty with his yokel dialogue. The Western stereotypes fly fast and free, but it never comes off as mean-spirited. There's a raw and honest quality to that rural tone as well.
I was stunned to find the main story takes a couple of serious, dramatic turns, and it really helped to balance the more extreme qualities of the character and the circumstances. Though there's a conflict between Mamaw and Whiskey's father, the latter is never portrayed as a villain.
