Image Comics 2015
Created & Written by Sam Humphries
Created & Illustrated by Tommy Patterson
Colored by Jon Alderink
Leonard by Rachel Deering
Each issue gets just a little more crazy, absurd and out there. Of course that is one of the reasons I'm enjoying this is much as I am. At first I thought this Marlinspike with a demon of some sort and I guess it really is but I'm beginning to think it's more a personal one then a real one. Well as real as a demon from hell could possibly be anyway. I'm not even sure when it happened but I switch to my way of thinking and thought of this as one man's journey through self deprivation and hallucinations and convincing himself he could be so much more. The sheer absurdity of what he's saying.Then I saw a Donald Trump rally and realized oh my goodness this is what really happens.
Now I'm sure this whole concept and book with started long before the presidential race began and we begin to see how crazy the Republican candidates really are. If not then kudos for having the pulse on exactly what the nation is being and bringing that kind of relevance to us in a much more relatable, lighter and facetious tone. It really is kind of ironic that at one point in time I would have thought that this kind of behavior would never have flown and the most base human being wouldn't even begin to relate to a candidate such as this. I shouldn't be too surprised by the fact that we see these tactics and this kind of connecting with the general population through fear and bigotry as a means of gaining political power.
All that political mumbo jumbo aside I am still kind of hung up on the idea that Marlinspike is either a real honest to goodness demon or just a figment of his imagination. Make that idea into his campaign manager and his soon-to-be ex-wife and things really do start taking on this weird kind of inner turmoil kind of mood. The writing and the characterization here it is pretty spectacular in that you see everything that's going on around and you keep thinking this is incredulous but everything plays out the way its supposed to and it's believable.
Well I'm not sure if this is supposed to be some kind of political satire, or it's just a commentary on how the American people are kind of sheeple in their mentality or if it's just literally the right place at the right time in the right moment of history to actually make a huge impact. Regardless I am loving every moment of the series it has me at time scratching my head and at times just laughing in stitches out loud. This is what a good comic book should do, it should take you places make you think and entertain the hell out of you.
I've been a fan of Tommy's work for a while now and I'm hoping that this series really give him the kind of recognition that he deserves. His style and his attention to detail plus the use of pages & panel layouts all of which are spectacular in their presentation really should bolster his fan base here. Seriously his imagination and creating Marlinspike and then just the everyday normal human beings that he brings to us really display the talent he has to share.
Simply put this is a hell of a fun read!