Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Victor Gischler
Artist: Maurizio Rosenzweig (Pencils) and Moreno Dinisio (Inks and Colours)
Release Date: 13th November 2013

“You’re pretty much near the bottom of humanity when you’re a clown… so it’s not much of a fall to murderer. Maybe it’s even a step up.”

I’ll say this off the bat – if 70s exploitation flicks aren’t your bag then this book is absolutely not for you. However, if the idea of Quentin Tarantino’s Charlies Angels sounds right up your alley, I urge you to read on. Our protagonists are 4 female circus workers working at the bottom rung of the circus ladder – they’re clowns. Via a case of mistaken identity they are offered a chance to make enough cash to get themselves out of the clown business for good – but they’re going to have to get their hands dirty to do so. The story speaks to the disenfranchised post-millenial generation Y, graduating with their degrees and finding minimum-wage jobs are the only employment available – being in a similar circumstance myself could explain why the book resonated with me so much. It begs the question – how far would you go to dig yourself out of a rut?

By sheer chance this is the second Victor Gischler #1 I’ve reviewed this week and it’s a credit to the man that the two books sound completely different. The four main characters, ex-hooker Candy, the hard-as-nails Tina, the mysterious Aya and our POV character Chloe all come-off a somewhat 2 dimensional but given that this is an introductory issue I can forgive only being given a surface glance at the characters and their motivations. The book gets away with a lot (I’m sure accusations of misogyny will be thrown at the book, missing the point of the kitsch throw-back exploitation homage) by being extremely fun to read. The characters bounce off of each other thanks to the quick and witty dialogue with the villains and oppressors being cartoonishly over-the-top.

The art lends itself to the story being told – lying somewhere between Leniel Yu’s heavily pencilled style and Amanda Connor’s expressive cartooning. None of the characters – male or female – share a body type and the facial expressions and body language allow the story to be followed almost without the aid of the word balloons. Inks are used sparingly, but very thick and heavy when the are utilised, adding to the cartoonish feel while ensuring a darker tone is maintained.

This is a four issue mini-series and from the first issue I know that I’ll be reading every issue, barring a massive drop in quality. The market for this book is somewhat of a niche but I hope it can find a wider audience – it deserves it. Gischlers background in crime fiction has served him well here and the comicbook format has allowed him to let loose a bit and go to the more ridiculous side of the genre. It’s Sucker Punch meets GTA without any of the pretension. You should read it.

Rating: 8/10.

The writer of this piece was: David McIntyre aka (Big Dave)
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