Action Lab Danger Zone/Full Moon Features 2018
Written by Brockton McKinney
Illustrated by Sergio Rios
Coloured by Rosa “Rosakaz” Rantila
Lettered by Micah Myers
The bad batch is back! The soul of a serial killer with the body of a cookie! It’s the Gingerdead Man, and this time he’s set his beady little candy eyes on a California headshop! High and die, brah! But little does he know it’s under the protection of Eebee the Evil Bong, a cursed artifact who wants to cast his crunchy body into the magical realm of BongWorld! The bloodshed and stoned heads begins HERE!
Honestly there are some franchises that you cannot dress up and make better than the original so you have to just go full throttle and embrace the madness for what it is. Brockton does with Gingerdead Man and I love every god-damned moment of it. Sometimes you just need this kind of foul mouthed off the wall totally outrageous comedic horror in your life to wash away the seriousness of daily life.
I like the way the book is structured it has a great flow to it that makes much more sense then a demonic gingerbread man or possessed by an evil spirit bong. In order to really fully immerse yourself into the story there is an amount of suspended disbelief that needs to occur so that it’s easy to go with the flow here and just enjoy the encounters as they come, which is kind of in rapid succession, is so easy to do. After that whole mischegas that was Baking Bad I gotta wonder how the Gingerdead Man was able to get himself outside the Head Shop? Not gonna really worry about it but it’s there in my head.
The idea that the shoppe was able to get into the bakery and make off with a limited amount of gingerbread men that were made with that whole drug cocktail is fantastic. Now if they were able to do was anyone else to get their hands on some too? I’d love to see at least two more folks, organisations or some such looking to cash in on having them. Now see what Brockton did here he’s making me think of further possible story arcs, which means that I am invested and that he has engaged me in all the right ways.
Rumour has it (your singing Adele now aren’t you) the shoppe has some of those cookies and are selling them a premium price and this guy who stepped in some goop, he thinks it’s dog poop, really wants it. That sets off a chain reaction (you give me all the after midnight action) of events that really get this party started. I hope your singing along with me heh I love the soundtrack in my mind. Seriously though the way the book is being done and how we see the characterisation unfold is extremely well done. The one-liners are inspired and the interactions are superb and make this as enjoyable as can be.
The interior artwork here is cute. The girl behind the counter with her message on her shirt so provocatively placed is a nice touch. That we see the backgrounds as needed is both good and bad I mean inside the Head Shoppe would’ve been a great way to utilise them consistently and what we do get is nicely done which only makes me want more. The way page layouts are used so that we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a good eye for storytelling. The creativity and imagination that we get to see is wonderfully done as well, though there are moments you have to really wonder where some props used to kill were hiding in plain sight.
Yes this is a crazy thing to see, witness and be a part of but that’s exactly how something like this should be. Laugh your behind off as this little Gingerdead Man goes up against the Evil Bong in a stoners paradise. P.S. why censor him at the end why can we not see his Gingerbread Penis (I want the uncensored version sent to me please) c’mon this is the Danger Zone after all!