GOOD TIMES

Heh.

AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS #2-3
Written by Mark Andrew Smith and Drawn by Dan Hipp
Published by Image Comics

If you aren’t reading this book, shame on you.

Are you allergic to laughter? Do you only like to read comics that have grim and gritty vigilantes who tear off the genitals of evildoers? Will you only buy comics you can finish reading in five minutes or less?

If so, then I cast even more shame upon you.

Since its early issues, AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS has managed to do the one thing that most comics completely fail to do, which is show steady improvement in both the writing and artistry departments. Of course it helps when there’s actually something worth building on from the start, and AJB was quite the amusing little piffle from the start. However, as we’re into a second volume (and therefore about eight issues), now the boys are firing on all cylinders.

Let me count the ways: first, we discover why Stevo only speaks in pictographs: he’s half Yeti. We even get a Yeti sex scene, which disturbed by buddy Beaucoup Kevin (I think he dated a really hairy chick once and hasn’t gotten over it), but got a huge laugh out of me. Then there are the vampire robots. The ghost Mexican wrestler who appears when the team summons him. The Beatlemania spoof. The phony ads the boys create and stick in the middle of the story. And the way that, even with all the broad comedy going on, there’s still plenty of gags both in the character interaction and in the expository captions.

So many comics barely scrape by in the race to actually be worth their cover price, but AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS is never lacking in value. Smith and Hipp are a finely tuned comedy machine, doing work that they can truly be proud of. Do yourself a favor and check out this quiet little gem.

/Mason