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DOUBLE TAKE #7
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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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 |
I'm generally not a fan of split books, but there are good stories to be found there, it seems, as Double Take is serving up a fine helping
of comedy and violence. Casey and Adlard deliver a gritty and to-the-point look
at violence in Codeflesh, but the star of the show is Rex Mantooth, Kung-Fu
Gorilla. The name alone should intrigue most anyone, and trust me when I say
that the mad hilarity of the story is not even hinted at in that name.
Codeflesh this issue is one
of the stronger stories that feature has given us, largely because of the sense
that there are no longer any rules keeping Casey and Adlard in bounds. Nudity,
violence, cursing, this is an R-rated comic, and both creators seem quite
comfortable in that zone. Adlard mixes sex and violence in perfect combination,
and Casey's dialogue sets up these characters as rough people living in a rough
world. While Codeflesh seems like it would work with more pages and a clearer
story structure, it's always an enjoyable read.
But Mantooth, ah, Rex
Mantooth is where it's at. Matt Fraction is not right in his head, and oh how I
love him for it. Rex Mantooth is of course a bizarre concept, combining all
sorts of comic-book and cheesy pop cliches into one hilarious action comic. Not
satisfied with simply over-the-top, Fraction, Kuhn and Fisher take Rex Mantooth
one step beyond, throwing in a lesbian army and then sending in their
less-than-covert gorilla protagonist to infiltrate.
Mantooth spoofs everything,
from Oprah to secret agent movies to kung-fu gorillas in drag... wait, I think
that last one spoofs itself. At any rate, the second chapter of Rex Mantooth has
somehow gotten even funnier than the first, and Fraction is right in tune with
the part of my male lizard brain that finds this stuff so funny. Kuhn and Fisher
keep right up with the madness as well, delivering a perfectly comical image of
Rex in drag, the mad villainess behind the whole scheme or little details like
buzzsaws hidden in the oddest of strategic places.
For now, I'm happy to read
Double Take and get my dose of Rex Mantooth, Kung-Fu Gorilla in these pages. But
neither Rex nor Fraction can be fully contained within a mere 13 pages, and if
we don't see a lot more in 2002, I'm afraid all will not be right in the comics
universe.
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