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JETCAT CLUHOUSE #3
Recommended (7/10)
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Oni Press
Writer/Artist: Jay Stephens
Editor: Jamie S. Rich
Price: $3.25 US |
I have to be honest, I was a little let down by the third issue of this series, which won me over with the second issue. There are a lot of enjoyable things here, from a variety of strange characters to some fun strips to an interesting and funny main story. But the book is interrupted in mid-stream by a color section for a variety of short stories, most of which feel a bit too short, and while I enjoyed them for what they were, the disruption in an already-jumpy main story was almost too much for me. Stephens takes the anthology style that he applied so well in his Land of Nod works and puts it to use here, and with the younger-aimed sensibilities, this winds up feeling not altogether different from Cartoon Network's always enjoyable Cartoon Cartoon... but with really long commercial breaks.
In the end, I guess my problem is mostly
one of structure, because interrupting the story seemed to be the biggest
mistake of the book. It was cute, but a bit pointless, and it made me want to
flip through all of the color pieces to get to the end of the story I was
reading and enjoying, which lessened my enjoyment of the color pieces. However,
if you've got more patience than me, or if you're willing to jump around in the
book, you'll probably have a great deal of fun with this.
Stephens's unusual sensibilities are
evident in the book and fit surprisingly well with a young audience. The gags
here relate to some mild gross-out humor, the notions of childhood friendship,
the funny side of being a young super-hero and even disguised, cutesy versions
of public safety announcements like "don't play with fire" or "getting a tattoo
hurts." It's enjoyable for adults as we can read it with a wink and a nod
towards the classic cartoons of our youth, but it probably reads without irony
for kids, and I imagine they're just as amused by the contents as adults will
be. While older readers chuckle at a punk musician forcing herself to play folk
songs, kids will laugh at the funny super-heroes climbing out of the giant's
nose, and so on.
For me, probably the most enjoyable thing
about the book is Stephens's vision of a super-hero world for kids. Villains
such as Moby Doc, heroes like Tutenstein and Teen Idol and the idea of a
super-hero birthday party all give the sense of a less dangerous, more fun
version of super-heroes. It's almost like a less cheesy version of the
Super-Friends, or at least a version of the Super-Friends that knows it is there
to be laughed at.
While this won't go down in history as one
of my favorite Oni projects, it's certainly an enjoyable book, and one that has
piqued my interest for further work from Jay Stephens.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
