The first issue of Puffed was weird and twisted fun, but it's nothing compared to this issue, which hits slapstick comedy, a couple of darkly humorous characters and a genuinely engaging and human side story and still has time for the whole ridiculous premise of some poor bastard trapped in a dragon suit. Layman showed off his sense of humor and violence in the last issue, but this one connects on a deeper level, and it's clear that Layman is a storyteller as well as a gag writer, and Puffed gets to be more than just a funny book as a result. Dave Crosland doesn't really improve on his performance from the first issue, but that's largely because his work was so damn good in the first place, and it still carries that crazy Jim Mahfood meets Jhonen Vasquez vibe that I liked so much.
Puffed reminds me pleasantly of those sort of "lost in urban weirdness" flicks that sometimes showed up in the 80s and 90s. Layman's approach here is reminiscent of Cheech and Chong, John Hughes and the Farrelly Brothers all combined into one, with a sort of magical reality that you can't help but go along with and a sympathetic human side to even the obstacles that the hero faces. There's a sort of comedic approach to the characters introduced this issue, but most of them also have something likable and sympathetic about them.
Peachy, for example, is a great character, and the seven pages in which he is featured are some of my favorites of the issue. He's a character you've seen in other comedies, the guy who's so stoned that he lives in his own reality, and Layman and Crosland do fantastic and funny work with him. I love that when he first sees a guy in a big smelly dragon costume, he thinks it's somebody he knows and just invites him in. His interaction with the protagonist is priceless, funny and charming, and Crosland's one page look at Peachy's point-of-view is a gorgeous page of artwork. I would have been a little happier if I could figure out exactly who the celebrity guest star was ("The Good Son" T-shirt and EW "It List" reference are supposed to be tip-offs, but even my pop-culture soaked brain couldn't figure it out), but it's a fairly minor point in the grand scheme of things.
The other two characters who really get introduced this issue are a somewhat ornery bartender who serves the role as obstacle without being necessarily mean or evil about it and Davey, a down-on-his-luck drunk with a story to tell. Davey's story actually consumes less of the issue than Peachy does, but it really grabs the reader's attention and seems like a bigger story than it is. Actually, it takes the reader completely away from the main story of Puffed, but Layman brings it back around to resonate with the story by the end, coming up with a reason for our poor hero to remain stuck in the dragon costume at the same time. Really, though, it almost doesn't matter that he managed to bring it back around, because Davey's story is so compelling. Davey's story is one of love set in Chicago, with a touch of infidelity, crime and sex thrown in. It's a surprisingly straightforward story, given the twisted sensibility of Puffed, and although it's certainly not without its weirder elements, including the involvement of a crime boss and a sort of off-kilter, strange narrator.
As with the first issue, I'm drawn into Puffed by the strange and beautiful artwork of Dave Crosland. Crosland's style is perfect for the exaggerated, weird sensibilities of this story, and he uses a variety of styles, from the urban hip-hop vibe that reminds me of Mahfood to a super-deformed manga look, all with a sort of detailed pseudo-painted look to the backgrounds, which gives the book a unique look. His comedic timing is spot-on, from the desperate run of the protagonist in the beginning to the happily stoned look of Peachy, and he does a great job of building atmosphere as well, from the evocative look of the jazz underworld in Chicago in Davey's story to the gritty, crowded 'hood of the opening part of the book.
