McGovern, Bernie – DemonDust #18/19

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DemonDust #18/19

Uh-oh, it can’t be a good sign if Bernie is combining issues, and that turns out to be true after reading this one. See, Bernie has been living his life and working on his other series (An Army of Lovers Will Be Beaten, and shame on you if you don’t know about it), which leads to this comic having what he calls “an incredible lack of focus.” Still, you clearly haven’t been reading his stuff if you think that this means that the comic is worthless. Things start off strong with Gank, a man who exists for “snapping people out of their complacency.” I should mention that these quotes are all from his afterward, which is always worth the price of admission in these minis all by itself. He gets in the face of an obnoxious guy on his cell phone (do I still have to say “cell phone”? Can’t that just be the default assumption for “phone” at this point?), finds a joint in the mop bucket in a store bathroom, and then the strip falls apart. We start to see Bernie’s notes at the tops of the pages and the story disintegrates, complete with blotchy ink spots on the final page. The #19 part of this is even more discombobulated, as it’s only two pages of wondering where his summer went, complete with the same notes along the top margin. It’s still an interesting book, for the peek into his creative process and the afterward where he goes into detail, but probably not the best book to start with if you’re a new reader. Then again, if you’re a new reader of anything and you’re starting with #18, that’s kind of on you. $1