Hughes, Dave – Thomas Wogan is Dead

April 27, 2010

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Thomas Wogan is Dead

You know what’s still woefully underrepresented on this website?  Comics from countries other than the US.  Granted, that’s due to the fact that I haven’t been able to travel outside the country for years and the most reliable way to get comics to review is to buy them myself, but I’d love to balance the scales a bit.  This one comes from the UK (no address given, so that’s as far as I’m able to narrow it down) and is at least mildly brilliant.  Thomas Wogan wakes up to find himself in a stark white waiting room, holding a number (which is in line to come up on an LCD screen in the room), with a pigeon, sea urchin, frog, bat, catfish and egg.  Thomas quickly discovers that he is dead, and all the creatures tell the story of their death, except for the egg, as what does an egg have to say?  As far as the story goes, granted, a bunch of creatures locked in a room without any answers isn’t the most original take on the idea, but this book shines in the tales of their deaths.  There’s a last grand stand against encroaching capitalism, distracting a predator from attacking their family with their life, the more common ways that creatures die as a matter of course, and then there’s Thomas.  You can probably guess from the cover that he’s not the most adventurous sort, and the day of his death ended up being the best day of his life, but I’ve spoiled more than enough about this comic.  It’s a blast, although the muted kind of blast that comes with being all about the inevitability of death.  What with dollar being worth what it is these days, this is probably $3, but a hefty thing for a mini comic.

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