Almost two years ago, I reviewed what I thought was going to be a quirky little graphic novel entitled Tozzer and the Invisible Lap Dancers. Suffice it to say I didn't care for it, but I've got to give the creators some credit, since they sent the first issue of the sequel comic-book series to me for review. The bad news is that some of the same elements that irked me in the first effort persist, and some of the spoof material is rather dated. The good news is that this was a more enjoyable read, thanks in part to the creators' apparent disdain for all things Eminem, a trait we share.
Pop singer, pedophile and perpetual plastic surgery patient MadJax and his chimp sidekick Bubs seek out Shit Creek Trailer Park, as Madjax is salivating over meeting the magical child known as Tozzer. Meanwhile, Tozzer's latest magical manipulations have earned him the ire of his murderous foster mothers, and he's locked himself in their trailer's panic room. Old friends come to his rescue, just in time for the new school year at Boarboils School of Drama in Hollywood.
Lumby's squat-faced style fits right in with the over-the-top tone of the story and spoofs here. Some of his likenesses are quite effective, but others fall flat. Jodie Foster is completely unrecognizable, for example. The George Lucas spoof is a funny visual, though, and I found I kept going back and forth on my opinion of the art. I am pleased to see that the creators are downplaying the notion that the title character has a swastika scar on his forehead (their "humorous" take on the Harry Potter lightning-bolt scar). In the original graphic novel, that image made the main character instantly unlikeable.
Where the script scores points on this reader's scorecard is in its scathing ridicule of Eminem and plot elements from his film, 8 Mile. I don't care for the music-chart phenom that is Eminem, so it was fun to see someone pointing out just how... silly his brand of shock culture really is. Given the disappointing nature of the more recent entries in the Star Wars, it was also fun to see George Lucas taken down a peg.
Maybe one of the reasons I enjoyed those celebrity spoofs is that one doesn't often seen them targeted for such treatment. The bulk of the twisted visions of the rich and famous here are cliched -- Michael Jackson plastic-surgery jokes? -- or dated. I think the boat has sailed on Panic Room references, and Reservoir Dogs is 12 years old. If one wants to mock Tarantino, the Kill Bill films are ripe for the picking.
Ultimately, I think what hurts the property the most is that the creators don't have a focus. Aside from little jokes about movie stars and musicians, I don't see the point, I don't see what they're trying to say. 4/10
