Lee, Rainer – Tuxedo Bandit #1

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Tuxedo Bandit #1

Well, I said it in my earlier review of Rainer’s work: the bits with the Tuxedo Bandit were the funniest in the book. So how does as entire book of Bandit adventures hold up? Eh, maybe best left in smaller doses. I still think that Rainer has serious potential, and, as at least a few of the stories in here were also in Super Whiz #1, I still have a whole other issue in my comics pile to see more of his work. I love the completely random observations and the bits of pure meanness on display (like the page I sampled). The trouble is, well, every strip ends pretty much the same way. Tuxedo Bandit abuses Dr. Klaw, physically and mentally (honestly, maybe it would be better to read the whole book as a repressed gay love story), then either convinces or forces Dr. Klaw to eat his shit. Mildly funny once or twice, after that a new punch line is needed. Again, it’s the random observations that save this comic. The last strip of the book involves Dr. Klaw falling for a woman at a scientist convention, and Tuxedo Bandit has some priceless conversation with the woman before Rainer wraps things up (and four whole pages with no poo!). The best bits of this comic almost always involve them getting out of the house, as those are the stories where shit doesn’t have to be the fall back punchline. Still, the image of the Tuxedo Bandit showing up for dinner with Dr. Klaw holding flowers is pretty hard to top. As I seem to be going around in circles here, what’s the verdict? Plenty of funny here and it’s worth a look, but you’re likely to get a bit bored with the repetition before it’s all said and done. No price but that’s one fancy cover, so let’s spin the “guess the price” wheel… $4!