Alligator Milk #1
Now that is one hell of a cover. Anybody looking at it is either going to be compelled to pick this up or run screaming in the opposite direction. The cowards will miss a thoroughly entertaining show while the rest of us will almost certainly have at least one of Max’s hauntingly extravagant drawings pop up in our dreams. On the first page this is called FEMA Camp 2012, which is based on the fever dreams of professional carnival barker and gold shiller Glenn Beck, so it’s instantly fertile ground for some extra insanity. Two guys are in line, trying to decide what they should wish for (the reader is not immediately told what this is all about), when one of them gets too happy at the prospect of a sandwich and gets admonished by a guard. The smiling persists, so the admonishment gets much worse, leaving only one of the guys to try and make it to the end of the line. As for what’s waiting for him at the end of the line, I’ll refer you to the title and leave it at that. I will say that it’s impossible not to love that last page but will offer no further hints. That would be a perfectly fine mini comic for a measly dollar, but that’s not all that’s in here. In the middle of the book the action stops to show two larger illustrations. One of them covers two pages of the story (we even get a “continued on third page following” warning like in old comic books) and the other images folds out from the center pages. The smaller drawing (and keep in mind that describing these drawings without you seeing them is a bit of a hopeless task) has two monstrosities that are tentatively trying to tongue kiss each other while clinging to a ceiling and towing along a bucket of horribleness respectively, while the larger drawing will take your breath away. It shows a man (ish) dragging along an incredibly heavy burden of melted bits of all sorts of creatures (or at least they seem mildly melted to me, and again I must point out the pointlessness of describing something that is almost certainly is its own unique thing) while another man, his dog and a snake creature all look on. At first I thought that this large picture was showing what happened to the people in that camp, now I’m not so sure and think they may just be two images that are completely disconnected from the main story. Either way, if you’re a fan of Max’s work they’re not to be missed. $1
