King City #8

by Brandon Graham

This issue of King City is pretty different from the usual, in that this one is very character driven, and relies much less on bizarre plot elements or elaborate sight gags than the usual installment.

This time around, we get to learn a lot about Max Absolute, the current boyfriend of Anna, the Cat Master's ex.  Max fought in Korea, and now we see what that was actually like, as Graham gives us some military bonding followed by a xombie attack  We already know that Max does chalk (it's a drug), but now we know a little more about how he feels about it, as he suffers from the loneliness that many veterans feel when they return to 'the world'.  

As well, we see some of Pete's continued search for the alien girl from volume one, and Earthling does some Cyrstal Math. As usual with an issue of this book, the sum is much more than its parts, as Graham continues to pepper his pages with out-of-left-field wordplay and seemingly random narrative techniques, such as how this issue tells us what's in everyone's pockets.

This book is an instant classic.