A good humor comic can make me smile or give me something to relate to someone later as kind of a funny story. A great humor comic has me laughing out loud to the point where people are staring at me, and I have to show them what's making me laugh, which causes them to break up as well. Scurvy Dogs is a great humor comic. I'm reminded of equal parts Halo & Sprocket and Sky Ape, as Boyd and Yount mix a flair for the bizarre with expert comic timing and a simple but deranged premise to create one of the finest, funniest first issues I've ever read. This has all the hallmarks of becoming an occasional treat for those seeking out weird and funny comics, and you owe it to yourself to give it a look.
It's so hard to really express the joy of Scurvy Dogs without ruining the jokes. But I will say that there are at least a half-dozen lines in here that, when spoken to someone who has also read the book, recall the joke and instantly evoke laughter. Lines and moments that I sense becoming a running gag amongst my group of comics-reading friends in the days to come. From funny non-sequiturs, such as "C'mon, boys, let's show these portuguese lepers why we call them 'the pinatas of the sea'", to simple one-liners that remind one so easily of the pure comic timing, like "Yar," Boyd and Yount have dialogue that is laugh-out-loud funny.
There's also a nice array of ideas at play here, showing off not only a twisted imagination but a sense of compact pacing. There are two stories in this book, and each one gets in, lays out the joke and gets out with impeccable timing. Whether it's a story about pirates shaking down their unlikely targets or a story of pirates forced to get "landlubber jobs," the central ideas are strong enough to support each story but also light enough not to require more attention than they get. In addition, the potential of more stories featuring this wacky crew and their strange surroundings is very clear.
While the dialogue and general plots are a big part of what I found enjoyable in Scurvy Dogs, I also have to give credit to Yount for the artwork. Oh, it's fairly simple, with a sort of minimalist approach and almost no backgrounds, but it has the comic timing that is absolutely essential for this kind of thing. The shots of the pirates waylaying the Portuguese lepers move the story along nicely, showing the comical effects of the over-the-top violence, and little details like the designs of the pirates, the vulture on one of their shoulders, the out-of-place modern (or 80s vintage) clothing provide as many laughs as the script.
This was an amazing week for comics, with some of my favorites and several promising new series releasing issues. You can imagine my surprise, then, when my favorite read was a goofy little book about pirates from a couple of creators I don't know and a publisher better known for graphic novels than single issues. The #1 in the indicia would seem to indicate that there's more on the horizon, but the notes by the creators and the lack of a #1 on the cover might indicate that this is just a one-shot. I hope that the former is the case, as I'd love to see more Scurvy Dogs.
