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MAGIC PICKLE #3
Recommended (8/10)
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Oni Press
Writer/Artist: Scott Morse
Editor: James Lucas Jones
Price: $2.95 US/$4.50 CAN |
There's a split focus in this issue that comes after the two main characters -- Weapon Kosher and the young Jo Jo Wigman -- part company after the opening scene. One scene will be of particular interest to adults, while the other will speak to kids. Overall, it makes for a great package, the greatest strength of which is some sharp and funny dialogue.
After Jo Jo fails to talk Weapon Kosher into letting her be his sidekick, he rushes off to thwart what appears to be a bank robbery at the hands of a large and frustrated talking coconut. Meanwhile, Jo Jo ends up at the bus stop on her way home, still in her jammies and about to die of embarrassment in front of her friends and snootier classmates.
I find Morse's choice to completely distort the faces of the young human characters in this story to be intriguing. Sure, he's always boasted an exaggerated, angular style, but he seems to take it further with Jo Jo and her friends. The approach reinforces the silly and surreal tone of the book, but it also serves as a contrast with the more down-to-earth moments in the script.
The new villain introduced in this issue -- the Loconut -- is hilarious. For me, he represented something just about anybody can relate to: frustration with the banking system. Sure, it's the Loconut who's the nonsensical one here, but given that in the real world, it's the banks that seem to lack common sense, it's easy to understand where this this unusual character is coming from.
Morse offers some humorous dialogue, but he also delivers a message that kids would do well to heed. Jo Jo's refusal to be embarrassed in the face of Lu Lu's taunts was heartening. Even though the situation was exactly what Jo Jo dreaded, she refuses to give her verbal bully the satisfaction and instead, turns the argument around to make Lu Lu look the fool.
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