As I read this final issue of a rather unusual, intense and entertainingly insane series, I remembered that I can relate to the main character's frustration at being stuck inside a bulky foam costume. One summer, I worked at the local national park, and on a special event day, I donned a costume for a couple of hours. Yes, I was Pippy the Piping Plover, walking up and down the white sands of Brackley Beach on Prince Edward Island. I was in a foam bird costume on the hottest day of the summer; I probably lost 15 pounds just sweating away in that thing. The worst part was that there were no legs to the costume. My legs were the bird's legs. Sure, I know what you're thinking... at least the lower half of your body wasn't sweating away, but then, you didn't experience the exquisite pain of third-degree sunburn on the top of your feet.
Layman taps into the humiliation, inconvenience and outright physical distress of such an experience quite vividly, though this final issue boasts some awkward pacing that makes it the weakest of the three chapters.
Still trapped in the Puff suit, Aaron embarks on two radically different adventures. He encounters another guy who's stuck in a foam suit, but he's on the job, hawking new, low long-distance rates. He also happens to be rather territorial, and Aaron's wandered onto his corner. Aaron also comes face to face with the gang members he saw kill a man earlier, and he gets a rather unwelcome view of the barrel of one of the gangstas' guns. Little does he know that one of his curses in life will prove to be his savior.
Crosland's exaggerated, over-the-top style suits this extreme story quite well. I love the juxtaposition of an innocent image -- the Puff costume -- with the gritty ugliness in which Aaron is reluctantly immersed. I love how he softens the artwork at the climactic moment of Aaron's confrontation with the 'bangers as well.
I was surprised to discover that the main story that ran through the first two issues came to a sudden halt halfway through this final chapter. It gives the impression that Layman's plot just ran out of steam. Mind you, the two resolutions to the plot are satisfying ones, and I love the notion that Puff ends up saving Aaron.
The sudden ending to the main plotline opens the door for a funny and frenzied confronation between two supposedly cute characters, but more importantly, it offers the protagonist, who's essentially been a victim throughout his misadventures, a chance to take control and release his frustrations and anger.
