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MAD SCIENCE #2 (Best of the Week!)
Highly Recommended (10/10)
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Amaze Ink/Slave Labor Graphics
Writer/Artist: Jon "Bean" Hastings
Price: $2.95 US |
If you like stories about teenagers with an extra brain grafted on, Harry Houdini, the strange and unusual town of Santa Cruz and mad scientist androids built by aliens who command sentient monkeys and armies of zombies but can't escape their own homes, then Mad Science is for you. If you don't like that stuff, geez, what's wrong with you? Hastings continues to bring the wacky with the second issue of Mad Science, which is
basically an extended origin for the two main characters, along with various
humorous asides. The subject material is truly original, the slapstick humor
hilarious and the characters endearing and definitely weird. If you're not
reading this book, you're missing out.
What I really love about
Hastings's work is that it has a sense of glee and madness to it. The story
opens with a rhyming recap and a splash page with the caption "Run Like Weasels
on Fire!!" It continues largely in that vein, full of goofy humor that should
sit well with those predisposed to enjoy weird humor, and the change to a high
school setting has made his work more approachable for just plain folks as well.
Hastings also seems to be getting a fair bit of publicity from Santa Cruz press
because of his loving use of that town as the basis for his story, and he has
made the city itself a character in a charming way, even for those who have
never been near Santa Cruz.
The ideas here run wild and
free. Mondo's various attempts at escaping the house are wonderful, the kind of
thing you'd hear in 3 a.m. caffeine-fueled Hollywood pitch meetings realized in
visual comedy style by Hastings's artwork. And Herman Baumgarten's origin is as
unusual and strange as anything that Grant Morrison might come up with. Even
when Hastings is using familiar elements, such as a rough childhood and
inspiration from a famous hero or an army of zombies, he makes it feel fresh and
original.
Part of that, I suspect, is
because there's so much genuine love for the subject matter obvious in
Hastings's work. I don't know if it's research or simply a familiarity with his
favorite subjects, but the strange things in Santa Cruz, the tricks of Harry
Houdini, the films like Frankenstein and the joy of pre-movie Vaudeville style
shows all come through in Baumgarten's story and connect with this reader, who
honestly doesn't have much of a pre-existing connection to any of it.
This love of various elements
of the book is evident in the artwork, as well. I've never been to Santa Cruz,
but if I go, I suspect I will recognize many of the local landmarks after
reading this. Hastings also nicely captures the feel of America in the early
part of the 20th century as well as the familiar pulp science-fiction/horror
mode in which Dr. Mondo operates.
It's hard to properly
categorize this series. It's part love letter to Santa Cruz, part appreciation
of Golden Age science-fiction and comedy and part goofy teen comedy. It's a
concept that sounded charming when I first heard it and Hastings has delivered
on that potential flawlessly.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
