Comics
Review: ‘Buddy Cops’ One Shot
What other comic this week will give you nuclear monk monkeys, a drunk future cop with a sweet jetpack, a wedding, and a clone of Eliot Ness surgically implanted into the carcass of a bear? Only Buddy Cops by Nate Crosby and Evan Shaner. “Buddy Cops” is one of the most enjoyable one shots I’ve read in a while.
WRITTEN BY: Nate Crosby
ART BY: Evan Shaner
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: March 13th, 2013
Buddy Cops follows Uranus, an intergalactic space cop with a badass jetpack, and an even more badass space sword, who has been demoted to the NYPD, and his partner T.A.Z.E.R. Who is an overly anal police robot. Together they form the Buddy Cops, and as you learn on the first page: they hate each other.
This book is the ultimate spoof of comic book heroes, and the buddy cop formula, all condensed into one issue. The amount of material covered here is almost astounding. Both characters go through a stereotypical buddy cop story, with the highs and lows of each character complimenting the other. What results is a perfect snapshot of insanity, that is as much fun to read, as it is to look at.
The art here is incredible. Shaner’s art is simple and pulpy in all the right ways. Lots of muted blues, oranges, and greens create a vibrant world for these buddy cops to exist within. The characterization of the monstrous enemies reminded me of some of Fiona Staples’ best work, and really gave the comedy the back bone it needed.
This book is damn funny. There is a moment halfway through that politely asks you to play Lional Ritchie’s “Hello” softly in the background as you read it, and I couldn’t agree more. Positively tear jerking moments on those pages.
Yet, the whole thing moves with incredible pace. Crosby does not waste a panel, and the rapid fire progression of the story allows the reader to be fully immersed and wanting more. Uranus and T.A.Z.E.R’s relationship is pitch perfect. The two challenge each other in the ways we have seen continually in buddy comedies but in the perfect comic book fashion. Everything is taken to outlandish exaggerations and every character takes it completely seriously.
“Buddy Cops” is a perfect world of sheer comic insanity that I cannot recommend heartily enough. For any fans of the buddy cop genre they’ll find perfect winks and nods to their sensibilities, and for those of you just well versed in comics, you’ll find yourself having a ton of fun and laughing out loud the entire time.
4/5 Skulls
Reviewed by – Jimbus_Christ
Comics
[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream
Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.
“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”
Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.
Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.
Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.
Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.
Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.
Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.
Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.
Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion.
Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.
‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.
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