Pirates are all the rage these days. The Pirates of the Caribbean is cleaning up at the box office and with critics, Crossgen is about to launch their pirate epic El Cazador, and Captain Ron is experiencing an unprecedented spike in DVD sales. Wait, scratch that last one. At any rate, before pirate fever (a disease also known as Herpes Simplex Yar) began sweeping the nation, Andrew Boyd and Ryan Yount were on top of things with their modern-day pirate comedy Scurvy Dogs, with its motto "Pirates are the New Monkeys." Clearly, the two of them were onto something. Or on something. Really, given the bizarre humor to be found in these pages, either one seems entirely possible.
At any rate, the first issue of Scurvy Dogs tackled the notion of pirates getting landlubber jobs and pirate dating faux pas. This issue, the team takes on the difficult question of vikings from the future, the heartbreak of monkey infestation and the fun of borderline copyright infringement, all riddled through with enough off-beat pop culture references to make Dennis Miller's head spin. The real Dennis Miller, I mean, not the one who sold out to do phone commercials. Boyd and Yount hit on any number of pop cultural touchstones, from Huey Lewis and the News to Lee Majors to King Kong to Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, and it's the esoteric nature of their referencing, as much as the sheer incongruity of it all, that makes it so much fun.
Just like the first issue, Scurvy Dogs #2 displays note-perfect comic timing. The characters deliver punchlines that are often nonsensical if taken at face value, but their timing and the sincerity with which they express sentiments like "Monkeys. Pah! Filthy animals. The pigeons of the sea." Boyd and Yount ask us to take a lot at face value, like the pirates' love for karaoke, Tang and fruity tropical drinks, not to mention the view of monkeys as sea-going vermin and highly-advanced primates, but they're using this juxtaposition of bizarre sensibilities and the pirate ethos to hilarious effect.
Yount's artwork in the first issue struck me as a little rough, but absolutely perfect for what the book needed, which was comic timing. His work this issue maintains the same comic timing, but his artwork looks more polished as well. More detail, more consistency and a really impressive mimicry of the pop culture phenomena that he and Boyd are spoofing adds up to some really solid artwork. The scene of the spaniard performing karaoke or the fight scene, reminiscent of last issue's fight against the Portuguese lepers, are particularly fun.
Bottom line, Scurvy Dogs is one of the funniest comics I've ever read, and issue two shows that the first issue wasn't a fluke. Clearly Boyd and Yount have a deep well of humor to mine, full of pirate humor, monkey humor and pop cultural humor. If we're lucky, there may also be dick and fart jokes. Whatever comes, I'm sure to check it out, because this book makes me laugh like a goon every time I read it.
