by Randy Lander

DOUBLE TAKE #6 Highly Recommended (9/10) Funk-O-Tron Productions "Rex Mantooth, Kung-Fu Gorilla" Writer: Matt Fraction Pencils: Andy Kuhn Inks: Tim Fisher "Codeflesh" Writer: Joe Casey Artist: Charlie Adlard Colors: Ben Templesmith Letters: Comicraft Price: $2.99 US/$4.50 CAN Publishing this would seem like sales doom, as it's the continuation of a split-book that never really set the market on fire with a new story by a complete newcomer to comics writing. It would be a shame if that were to happen, because this is the funniest damn thing I have read in a long time. Codeflesh, the returning feature, is a nice gritty and violent slice of bounty hunter fiction with nice Adlard art, and I like it as much as I ever did. But Rex Mantooth, the other half of the book? It's insane and wild and stupidly funny and brilliant. If I hated the other half of this book, I'd buy it for Rex Mantooth. Matt Fraction is the reason I bought this book. Well, actually, Fraction and the name "Rex Mantooth, Kung-Fu Gorilla" which pretty much guaranteed a look. Fraction has always had a combination of audacity, a random-access sense of humor and solid writing fundamentals behind the wackiness, and he brings that all to bear on Mantooth. If you're not laughing by the time you finish his highly fictionalized introduction, you will be when the first concept you're introduced to is a kung-fu gorilla secret agent fighting ninja robots. Not satisfied with simply taking things a bit over-the-top, Fraction wanders into sheer lunatic territory with his story. Mantooth and his sexy female sidekick infiltrate the headquarters of Fu Manchu's stupid second cousin, whereupon they are forced to deal with more ninja robots and of course a 50-foot-tall robot with a name so stupid you won't believe it. Then Fraction pushes it up even further, and when Mantooth unmasks the villain to reveal the truth, I was literally rolling on the couch laughing. I had once thought nobody could top Sky Ape for manic lunacy and hilarity, and certainly never figured if someone did it would also include an ass-kicking gorilla, but Fraction and his artistic co-conspirators have matched if not exceeded the entertaining madness of Sky Ape with Rex Mantooth. Double Take does feature some lovely artwork to go with the stories, by the way. Kuhn's work has the same over-the-top, crowded panel, everything going-on-at-once feel that Fraction's script has, and he does some inspired designs for the robot or for Rex himself. And Adlard never disappoints, with his black and white art (graytoned by Ben Templesmith) on Codeflesh actually far surpassing the color work that he did on Double Image, which was none too shabby in the first place. Like I said, this isn't a book that a lot of people will know to look at, and it's one that many retailers will probably pass over. Trust me on this one, folks... it's worth the effort to track it down. Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.