Guest Review - Scurvy Dogs

The following is from Carlos Hernandez Fisher, to whom I sent my issues of Scurvy Dogs that were generously sent to me (along with a billion other books) by AiT/Planet Lar's Larry Young. Take it, Carlos:

I've been looking forward to Scurvy Dogs for a long while. From the early buzz online from reviewers like Randy Lander, my own passion for funny, crazy comics, and my devotion to most books with the imprimatur of AIT/Planet Lar I had a feeling this was a comic for me. Unfortunately, I'm also a wait-for-the-trade kind of guy, so I've been sitting on the sidelines for this one (much as I am for Street Angel). Now, thanks to Tegan's generosity, and the second-hand generosity of Larry Young, I'm part of the party.

So, my thoughts on Scurvy Dogs. In sum, really good but not quite great. I found the book deliriously funny in parts, rivalling some of my favourites like Rex Mantooth, My Monkey's Name is Jennifer, and Barry Ween for lines and scenes that make me put down the book for laughing so hard. Concepts and lines like Vikings from the future, "pigeons of the sea," the king of the hobo mafia, and Menudo Island could only come from some sort of demented genius, and I mean that in the nicest way.

So what's bad? It's a week or two out from reading the books and I'm hard pressed to actually remember what happened in them. I can remember certain lines and riffs, and if I had friends who were reading Scurvy Dogs I'm sure we'd be quoting it at each other, but the story doesn't really stick with me. The story's in service of the jokes rather than vice versa. Which is fine, since the jokes really are great, and I'll probably track down future Scurvy Dogs books. But it doesn't transcend its jokes and offer something more -- like Barry Ween, for example and IMHO, does -- and that's what I'd really been hoping I'd find.

(PS: Stop making me jealous by blogging about CBC Olympics coverage. As a transplanted Canadian living in Portland I'm sorely missing my CBC fix. And as far as Olympic references in comics, there was some stuff in Young Justice four years ago, though they kept talking only about the "Sydney Games" in what seemed to be a trademark protection issue.)

Sorry, Carlos. I just like the fact that I can get actual coverage of the Olympics. I also remember that Young Justice story... yeah, there was a thing for awhile there where any business at all, anywhere in the world, that called itself Olympics or used the Olympic name in its advertising was being harrassed. It hit a few companies in this area, as we have an Olympic mountain range here in Washington and many companies named themselves after it. As I recall, most of the local companies got to keep their names, but it was big news for a time.