Rick Bradford (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} rickbradford) wrote,@ 2005-09-22 09:21:00 |
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TOZZER 2 #1-4 by Rob Dunlop and Peter Lumby
TOZZER 2 #1-4
by Rob Dunlop and Peter Lumby
($2.95 each from www.tozzer.com)
Reviewed by Alan Rankin
Although it has a continuing storyline of sorts, Tozzer is mainly an excuse to make off-color jokes about current movies and pop-culture icons. In this, as well as the art style, it reminds me of Chris Jordan's Babyhead. Although it falls short of Babyhead's hilarious lunacy, it succeeds in its own regard, cross-pollinating the leading figures of what passes for 21st-century culture into some wickedly funny bits. I mean, where else are you going to come across a character who looks and talks like Pulp Fiction's Jules, but plays the part of Mr. Garrison from South Park, with a foul-mouthed, backwards-talking Yoda puppet as his Mr. Hat?
Other pop stuff savagely sent up in this second series of Tozzer's adventures: George Lucas, Michael Jackson, Phone Booth, Catch Me If You Can, Harry Potter, Eminem, Michael Moore, The Matrix trilogy, Lara Croft, Hannibal Lecter, The Road Warrior, Vin Diesel, The Hulk, etc., etc. As might be expected, some of these jokes are misses, but some of them are hits. My favorite is when the Eminem character winds up stuck in carbonite like Han Solo, and none of the other characters can hear his expletive-laden demands for release. And I've seen plenty of George Lucas parodies before, but Tozzer's version probably has the best name: Luke Gorgeous.
I do have to question the series' heavy reliance on images and characters from current Hollywood crapfests. I mean, everybody knows that most of the product coming from La-La Land these days is worthy of contempt – but that doesn't mean it's worthy of extended satire. I just feel like somebody picking up Tozzer2 five years from now is going to be lost, trying to follow jokes about movies that were forgotten before their theatrical release was even over. I was reading issue 2 only a year after it came out, and the references to Catch Me If You Can already seemed dated. This doesn't affect the book's comedy, only its possible shelf-life.
But that's a quibble. Writer Rob Dunlop and artist Peter Lumby have definite comedic talent, and a flair for the outrageous. If you enjoy South Park, Scary Movie and MadTV, chances are you'll like Tozzer2 as well.
[Link to This Entry]
TOZZER 2 #1-4
by Rob Dunlop and Peter Lumby
($2.95 each from www.tozzer.com)
Reviewed by Alan Rankin
Although it has a continuing storyline of sorts, Tozzer is mainly an excuse to make off-color jokes about current movies and pop-culture icons. In this, as well as the art style, it reminds me of Chris Jordan's Babyhead. Although it falls short of Babyhead's hilarious lunacy, it succeeds in its own regard, cross-pollinating the leading figures of what passes for 21st-century culture into some wickedly funny bits. I mean, where else are you going to come across a character who looks and talks like Pulp Fiction's Jules, but plays the part of Mr. Garrison from South Park, with a foul-mouthed, backwards-talking Yoda puppet as his Mr. Hat?
Other pop stuff savagely sent up in this second series of Tozzer's adventures: George Lucas, Michael Jackson, Phone Booth, Catch Me If You Can, Harry Potter, Eminem, Michael Moore, The Matrix trilogy, Lara Croft, Hannibal Lecter, The Road Warrior, Vin Diesel, The Hulk, etc., etc. As might be expected, some of these jokes are misses, but some of them are hits. My favorite is when the Eminem character winds up stuck in carbonite like Han Solo, and none of the other characters can hear his expletive-laden demands for release. And I've seen plenty of George Lucas parodies before, but Tozzer's version probably has the best name: Luke Gorgeous.
I do have to question the series' heavy reliance on images and characters from current Hollywood crapfests. I mean, everybody knows that most of the product coming from La-La Land these days is worthy of contempt – but that doesn't mean it's worthy of extended satire. I just feel like somebody picking up Tozzer2 five years from now is going to be lost, trying to follow jokes about movies that were forgotten before their theatrical release was even over. I was reading issue 2 only a year after it came out, and the references to Catch Me If You Can already seemed dated. This doesn't affect the book's comedy, only its possible shelf-life.
But that's a quibble. Writer Rob Dunlop and artist Peter Lumby have definite comedic talent, and a flair for the outrageous. If you enjoy South Park, Scary Movie and MadTV, chances are you'll like Tozzer2 as well.
[Link to This Entry]
