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Jackson, Rob – Flying Sausage Academy #4

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Flying Sausage Academy #4

It’s the big finale! In this issue we learn why Mr. Bojangles is so bitter at the headmaster, see a bit of the play that has had our hero so nervous, and get not one but two confrontations between Daryl and King Penguin. Well, maybe one and a half confrontations, it depends how you score such things. Oh, and we finally get to see what the problem was with Daryl’s mom, or at least we finally see Daryl’s mom. I loved how this worked itself out, which means that I can’t tell you any more about it. Rules are rules! There’s also one more big fight scene, because who ever heard of the last issue of a series not involving a big old fight scene, preferably one involving giant monsters? This whole thing ended up being another great series from Rob. Maybe one of these weeks I could dig through all of his older series to say which one I think is the best, but that would probably require me magically getting a week off work with nothing else to do, as the man has quite the back catalog by this point. Basically you have two choices if you want to start digging through his comics, which you very much should: either pick a series or two to see what you think (my recommendation) or pick a few of his stand alone issues instead. One or the other, people! Get to it!

Jackson, Rob – Flying Sausage Academy #3

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Flying Sausage Academy #3

You know, it just now occurred to me that I never checked to see if #4 is the last in this series. Guess I’ll find out very soon; I’m just curious how many loose ends need to be wrapped up if that’s the case. In this issue we get to watch the sheer depths of panic that Daryl sinks to as he realizes that he has a lot of complicated lines to learn for his role in MacBeth, and that the entire school is going to be watching him and ready to make fun of him if he screws up. Daryl is also hunting for Mr. Bojangles, the missing music teacher. He’s given a cryptic map, which leads him to the prop department, giving the reader a peek into that world. As he’s practicing for the play a giant spider shows up, causing the whole school to come together to fight it, which naturally leads Daryl to seek out the source of the giant spiders. What does all this have to do with Mr. Bojangles? Plenty, as it turns out. How is this play going to turn out? Is Handsome Dan going to punch the guy who took his lead in the play? What exactly is up with Daryl’s mother? Read the next (final) issue to find out! Or just read my review of it in a couple of days, as I’m bound to give up a few juicy details. You should be reading this series, and damned near all of Rob’s series, yourselves, so if you’re quick about it you can order his books and get to the ending before me. It’s a race!

Jackson, Rob – Flying Sausage Academy #2

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Flying Sausage Academy #2

You know, I’ve been saying for years that more comics artists should put recaps at the start of their comics (continuing series, that is), but I’m wondering if that’s still good information. Is this comic available at many comic stores, or at this point do people mostly get them from the creators themselves? If it’s the latter then there’s no reason for recaps, as people would be buying the whole series. Granted, it would always be nice for people with crap memories like me who read the first issue six months ago regardless, but that’s just me. Am I way off here? Do most of you still get your comics from stores, online or otherwise? Oh hypotheticals, you’ll never be answered. So how about this issue? Our hero was selected to become an undercover agent after his troubles in the last issue, and his first task is to uncover a drug ring in the chess club. Along the way we get another brief peek at his mother (“peek” meaning we don’t see her at all, but we do see him caring for her), we see the world of P.E. in this school and the horrors that befall any student who forgets their gym uniform, the school play of MacBeth gets a cast (with the lead not going to Handsome Dan, which is bound to cause problems later), and Daryl continues learning more about these classes and teachers. Oh, and we also learn the secret of that robot on the cover, but I’m not giving up the goods on that so easily. Two more issues to come, and for once I’m doing the smart thing and reviewing them all in one week, so no faulty memory issues this time around!

Jackson, Rob – Flying Sausage Academy #1

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Flying Sausage Academy #1

This review will serve as your regular reminder that Rob Jackson is a comics making machine and you should be ashamed that the amount of comics you make in a year will never match his. Luckily it’s not a competition, but there are very few comics artists working who’ve put out the amount of quality work that this guy has over the last decade. And he has a consistent track record of being nice enough to finish his comics series, meaning that you shouldn’t be afraid of future disappointment with that “#1” in the title. Believe me, he knows where he’s going with this. This, by the way, being the story of a new kid at a school who’s given the instructions that he can’t get in any trouble for fighting. This immediately puts the new kid in a tough spot, as the school is run by a bully named King Penguin. Who looks like a weird human/bird hybrid. Yes, this is mentioned almost immediately by one of the characters, and other characters include a pirate (complete with peg leg), a student in full armor, a teacher who throws hot soup on unruly students and a headmaster in wizard robes. This issue sets up this world nicely, as our hero has all kinds of trouble fitting in without causing any sort of problems that would attract the attention of his father while navigating a world with that bully after him. And the several other school factions that could theoretically protect him from this bully, assuming he can figure out what they want instead. His mother is a mystery; she’s bedridden behind some curtains at home but we never see her. So yeah, this is a nice solid bit of world building, with a varied cast of characters that could go in a number of directions moving forward.

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