Black Heart Billy

Written by Rick Remender, Kieron Dwyer, and Harper Jaten
Art by Rick Remender, Kieron Dwyer, Harper Jaten, and Paul Azaceta

Rick Remender has become one of the biggest names at Marvel Comics these days, writing the very well received Uncanny X-Force, and less praised but still very good runs on Venom and Secret Avengers, before being handed Uncanny Avengers and Captain America.  Before he did any of this though, he worked for over a decade building a name for himself in the trenches of independent comics, where he is best known for books like the excellent Fear Agent and Strange Girl.

Black Heart Billy is a comic from his earliest period, when he was still drawing his own stories, and worked with his frequent collaborator Kieron Dwyer (you should really read their Crawlspace: XXXombies).

Billy is a punk rock skateboarder with a robot head.  He hates hippies and Nazis, and especially hates it when a Nazi robot controlled by Jerry Garcia's skull starts turning people into hippies.  He also likes to beat up leftists and nerds with guns.

This book is kind of strange - it doesn't really resemble anything else of Remender's that I've ever read. It fits more with the 'comix' school of gross-out humour and light social commentary, and while I enjoyed it, I wouldn't pick up a second volume if one existed.