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Schuster, Eric & Gillette, Joseph – Prizon Food #2
Prizon Food #2
It just occurred to me that the last issue of this series also listed “Party Food” as the second person responsible for it, and both times I listed the real name of the person instead. I could change it now, but it’s already been out there on the internets for a week, meaning the whole world already knows about it. Not that the whole world reads my website, that’s just how these things work. It’ss confusing anyway, as “Party Food” is also a character in the story. So! This time around Waltar and his pig are taken up into that spaceship from the last issue, the conversation between the king and his son with the upside down face (Party Food; see what I mean about it being confusing?) continues, and Waltar and his pig are taken to prison. Or prizon, as it’s called on the cover, which may have given that bit away. A good chunk of this book is an extended fight scene between Waltar and the guards, and it’s a thing of beauty. The giant word balloons, the wide open spaces, the two page spreads when the action (or lack of action) calls for it, the various expressions on the faces of the guards, all of it combined for the best fight scene that I’ve seen in years. Of course, I am biased into thinking that a fight between a purple gorilla creature and three alien guards starts off as the best fight in ages and then it would have to be exceptionally crappy to knock that opinion away from me, and this was not crappy at all. We also get to meet one new character at the end, so these two obviously still have plans for this series. Which is great, as this is one of those series that reads like a fever dream that should have been on paper ages ago. Or drawn on their computers and then put onto paper, however you want to put it. $6
Gillette, Joseph & Schuster, Eric – Prizon Food #1
Prizon Food #1
You know how to get on my good side immediately if you’re making comics? Make the art for the comic look like those old Kings Quest style computer games from the late 80’s, complete with boxy word bubbles and close-ups of the characters that somehow look worse than the images that are from farther away. That’ll do it right there. Well, that or put zombies in your book, but at this point even I’m getting sick of zombies. So I like the style, clearly, but what is this comic about? Well, I’m not entirely sure yet, but as this came with the next two issues of this series, I also don’t care quite yet. Things start off with the pig pictured on the cover trying to wake up a purple gorilla (?) who’s passed out in the sand. Said gorilla (Waltar) was looking for his mermaid lady love (who may or may not know that Waltar exists) but never spotted her. Meanwhile, there’s a mysterious ship in the air, and the camera pulls back to reveal what appears to be a gigantic mound of shit on his island. Then we switch to see what Party (brother to Waltar) is up to, as he’s flying a kite and has to rush inside when the phone rings. Oh, and his face is upside down. The king (pictured in the sample below) is calling, and he’s trying to get Party to take care of his brother. What the problem is has not yet been identified, but that’s what future issues are for, right? No sense spoiling the rest of this, but we do get to see the mermaid for a second and that mysterious ship does get identified (sort of). As somebody who played way too many of those old computer games, I loved all the little tricks these two put into the comic. The long distance shots of the characters on a beach, the green light from the ship, the “…” reaction shot, the image of the mermaid through the lenses of binoculars, all brilliant. Maybe if you’ve never played those games this won’t mean as much to you, but it’s still a funny, intriguing and delightfully warped comic either way. A bit expensive at $6, perhaps, but man is it worth it.
