Ready? 5, 6, 7, 12: The Amazing Joy Buzzards - A Review

Yet another review that should have been in advance of the release, but was not due to circumstances beyond my control, The Amazing Joy Buzzards arrived in my e-mail box a few weeks back. Unlike some of the advance reviews I receive, this one was the full release - an entire graphic novel of the crass, "snot-nosed brats" in all their punk rock glory - and I suppose that too was a bit daunting, but the real reason it's late is medical. But enough about me.

Ready? 5, 6, 7, 12...

This count-off starts the real action in The Amazing Joy Buzzards and comes about 10 pages in, after we've gotten past security. Writer, Mark Andrew Smith's, addressing the reader immediately informs us that this is a fun, never too serious, romp through Mad Magazine-style punk rock madness and shortly thereafter, he cranks it up. Artist, Mark Hipp's, work is reminiscent of someone in particular, but I can't quite put my finger on the name - there are definitely traces of later Jack Davis (hence the Mad Magazine reference), as well as Giffen's chunky work on Trencher, but there is a specific artist whose work comes to mind, but name does not...

Regardless, The Amazing Joy Buzzards is one of those rare efforts where the writing and art mesh perfectly even though they are done by two separate creators; my firm belief - voiced here many times over - is that the best works are done by one-man creative "teams." Amazing Joy Buzzards proves me wrong, I'm happy to say, though I'll stick to my guns and declare it "an exception which proves the rule." Nevertheless, Joy Buzzards works particularly because it is such an incredible piece of sequential art.

Nothing too groundbreaking, necessarily, but Joy Buzzards eschews pointless narrative and dialogue and relies on art to point-out the obvious. Some early gems include a dialogue balloon filled with thunderheads and the floating image of a sawing log over the head of a sleeping bandmate. Hipp is not a manga-devotee, though: his attention to pacing and flair for the dramatic through inventive POV-work is notable. To illustrate the point, check out this water-drinking sequence (to the right).

Truly, Joy Buzzards depends on the art to carry the entire story. Dialogue is secondary, often offering only catch-phrases and punchlines fanboys are sure to quote incessantly - with good reason ("Since all I have for you is my spite, I shall serve it to you in story form")! But let's not take anything away from Smith; the dialogue is suitably campy and fits perfectly and the direction is masterful. "Mysterious Narrator's Voices" and other devices which so often detract from more serious sequential works are par-for-the-course in Buzzardworld and the over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek restating of the obvious will leave you breathless. Even more incredible, Smith manages character development with intentionally one-dimensional characters! Still, Hipp's arthritically-inspired artwork is the centerpiece of this hysterical work.

Buzzards begins in a seemingly Dadaistic fashion, but it is not an anti-comic; there is a definite story and clear sequence of events, and even though it features a punk rock band and plenty of pointless (and humorous) asides, The Amazing Joy Buzzards owes more to 1950's B-rater monster classics than any artistic movement, musical or otherwise. And not just because it has a lot of monsters, mysterious serums, pointless lyrics, and pink robots.

The Amazing Joy Buzzards was an absolute joy to read and review and I highly recommend it to everyone! Laugh-out-loud funny, brilliantly scripted and rendered, The Amazing Joy Buzzards gets The Rundown's highest rating... which will have to do, since we have no real ratings "system" or anything.

Highest recommendation!

NOTE: Please excuse the images. I have no suitable image-editing programs on the Vista box as of yet.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008