Manley, Jeffery J. – Punked

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Punked Now Available! $1

Ah, the 24 hour comic.  The quality of these rare creatures varies wildly, as sometimes it’s a freeing exercise for an artist, not letting them dwell too much on making everything just right, which can lead to some profound insight.  Sometimes it’s just a total rush job, something for an artist to do to say “look everybody, I did a 24 hour comic!”.  Jeffery manages the former, even if he is a bit ham-handed at times getting there.  This is the story of a young man trying to relate to his father.  He takes advice from his evil side, chats with his other siblings, and finally everything works out OK (spoiler alert) with one of the creepier endings I’ve seen, or at least one of the creepier ones where it’s supposed to be sweetness and light.  I was impressed by the art here though, as if he can make it look this good while rushing through a comic (and this was done in 2004), he should have a vast library of work available by now.  For some reason Jeffery decided to alternate the page colors, which is a bit disconcerting, if only a minor gripe.  As far as the story goes, it’s a bit simplistic, sure, but the bit of misdirection with the trash bag was a nice touch, and it’s too damned heartwarming to say much bad about it.  If you like his other work this is definitely worth checking out, unless you’re too cynical to accept anything with some sort of a happy ending. $1