Albatross Funnybooks 2017
Written by Brendon Small & Eric Powell
Illustrated by Steve Mannion
Coloured by Marissa Louise
Lettered by Warren Montgomery
Full disclosure I believe this is my first exposure to anything that Brendon has done. So this is coming from someone who is new to his work a true unbiased opinion. So far I like the concept here as Triton, of Intergalactic anti-crime solo operative, and his wife,Lizyra are getting divorced. High profile, high powered couple calls it quits because of innocent mistake, well someone sent a dick pic of Triton to an underage stripper on some type of pleasure planet so he either did it or was set up. This of course puts a huge dent in how people are going to see him moving forward and really he doesn’t want this but she’s a woman scorned so there’s that.
Meanwhile we’re also introduced to Triton’s supporting cast of characters which include his mother, whom you’ll to experience to believe and this little bot type guy who only speaks with pictures. Not only that but it also introduces us to the big bad villain of the story as well and honestly I can’t wait till we spend more time on that being! Seriously i’m curious to know more about this creature for lack of a better word. It’s plainly clear that the two are destined to clash and i’m sure we’ll learn why as the story moves forward, though I think we could guess.
From Steve’s work on the interiors I would have guessed this as being something from Heavy Metal Magazine. It has that whole underground comix kind of vibe that I associate with them. I will say though that I am a fan of the work done here. There’s some crazy good stuff happening and the attention to detail in certain things we see leave quite the impression! Also I love that we don’t see Triton’s face he’s never without that mask/helmet--which is of some consternation to his soon to be ex-wife. The whole tone, feel and vibe that comes from what Steve and Marissa do here is fantastic in my opinion.
The characterisation is strong with this one. Also it’s only the tip of the iceberg since he’s quite literally just divorced. We see them signing the finalization in this issue so you know he’s going to be something of a mess or at least off his game or quite honestly overcompensating in some way shape or form. Triton is a great character and his potential is easy to see if he can get out of his own way long enough to achieve what he has to.
There’s a good solid serious story wrapped up in some great cliche kind of moments. From the whole idea of this splitting up super-couple to the bad guy wanting to see either revenge or what have you this has all the makings of a great fun time. I love finding things where I have no idea what to expect because it means i’m totally open to the experience with absolutely no preconceived notions. With that mindset it’s easy to sit down and read a comic like this, laugh at the styling, dialogue and situations and still find a way to root for a lovable loser like Triton.
This is the second book from Albatross Funnybooks that i’m completely into now and the two couldn’t be more different. I’m telling you all step away from the corporate nightmare and begin to enjoy comics again starting with this!