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HOPELESS SAVAGES #4 (Best of the Week!)
Highly Recommended (10/10)
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Oni Press
Writer: Jen Van Meter
Artist: Christine Norrie
Flashback Artist: Chynna Clugston-Major
Editor: Jamie S. Rich
Price: $2.95 US |
If you were to ask me what my favorite Oni book was, I'd probably name Barry Ween... but Hopeless Savages is giving it a run for its money. The book is hilariously funny, but
it also has an emotional center, and the theme of family and being yourself that
runs throughout is one that I can definitely get behind. Throw in not one but
two incredibly talented artists and you've got what has been, hands-down, one of
my favorite mini-series of 2001.
This issue is the finale,
complete with the endings for each character that entails, and Van Meter sets up
endings for three of the major characters that are funny and also heart-warming.
The previous issue ended on a cliffhanger, but it's resolved pretty quickly,
with clever use of the flashback sequence early on to show off the combat
prowess of the Hopeless-Savage family. As always, the flashbacks give us a
chance to see the younger kids interacting with their parenting, and we get a
sense of the very idiosyncratic parenting they got, which is honestly better
than a lot of the "by the book" family values parenting kids tend to get in the
real world. There are also a lot of laughs in seeing the values of the parents
passed on, the best example of which is "The Fascist Bastards!" response to
"President Ronnie and the Iron Lady."
What surprised and pleased me
was that the second half of the story revolved around the seemingly mundane
question of Skank Zero getting to her gig. Music and having a band has been an
important part of the story throughout, so it's only fitting that we see how the
next generation that Dirk and Nikki gave birth to deal with music and fame. And
the shift one character made from antagonist to supporting cast member was
surprising but completely in character, and has given me another character to
love in this book.
The artwork, as with the
writing, is top-notch. Clugston-Major's artwork on the flashback makes good use
of her exaggerated and funny style to show us how the kids learned the art of
mayhem, as well as giving a nice comedic finale to the flashback sequence. And
Norrie's work is equally good. I remain especially impressed with the amount of
emotion she can convey in faces and body language, but her action sequences,
whether it's a fight or a rushed drive, are nothing to sneeze at either.
In the end, there are a lot of big and small payoffs to those who have been reading the entire series, along with an ending that finishes off this tale but hints at more to come. If you missed out on Hopeless Savages, I foresee a trade
paperback purchase in your future. Trust me... you'll thank me for it.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board. |
