Gabagool! #1 (made by Mike Dawson and Chris Radtke, reviewed by Jason Dupuis)
let me start by saying that this comic is not bad. it’s pretty entertaining in fact. i just want to get that out of the way before i start complaining about it. anyway, the story is pretty good: a few friends
are sick of their jobs and decide to start bounty hunting. they place a comically terse ad in the “pennysaver” and after waiting a few days, they get a job from a friend. it turns out that they’re not the
greatest men for the job.
i like the drawing style. i like the writing. and the whole package is very well done. the thing i don’t really like is the format. the size is just weird. it’s larger than most mini-comics and smaller than most “mainstream” comics. that’s not so bad, but it seems like they left a lot of empty space. the actual comic panels could easily fit into a more traditional mini-comics size. all of this is still not so bad. what really put me off was the filler they used to round out this big book. okay it may not have been intended as filler but i felt that’s what it was there for. they included some weird stuff; poetry, advertisements, some rant from a character named cousin lenny, anime reviews, etc. which would be fine if this were mainly a ‘zine but i think it’s a comic. i kept expecting a punchline in that poetry but it sure didn’t come. it’s for-real poetry. i’m not trying to poetry bash… i guess i just didn’t appreciate it in this setting, and i’m certainly not an advertisement fan, even if it is for “new york’s hottest online video magazine!” overall, this comic is worth getting (it’s “one friggin’ dollar”).unless it’s a ‘zine, in which case, it’s not great.
Send money to P.O. Box 1638 Radio City Station New York, NY 10101-1638, or visit his website.
