Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker #8

Written by Joe Casey
Art by Mike Huddleston

It's a real shame that the ending of Butcher Baker, Joe Casey and Mike Huddleston's gonzo comics series had to end with some on-line controversy and mud-slinging on the parts of the creators towards each other.  The book is hella late - this issue was solicited for October of last year, and it's a little odd to see Casey lay the blame on the artist, considering how completely screwed up the schedule has been for Godland, Casey's other Image series, for the last two years.

Anyway, I don't read comics for the behaviour of the people who create them, I read them for their own merits, and in that sense, Butcher Baker ends much as it began, in a burst of crazy energy and ideas.

Butcher is a patriotic hero, a cross between Ultimate Captain America, Rambo, and The Comedian, who drives around in an over-sized truck dispensing justice.  This issue has him finish his big confrontation with his old enemy Jihad Jones, deal with the other-worldly threat of The Absolutely, and reach some closure with the small-town cop who has been pursuing him since the series began.

Much of this issue is taken up with the extended fight between Butcher and Jones, both of them naked with their rather large appendages swinging freely.  It's like Casey took his goal of creating the most balls-out crazy action comic he could a little too literally, and you have to respect that.

Mike Huddleston has made this issue well worth the wait, as he continues to blend various styles and colour approaches, and makes every page stand out in a way we haven't seen since Bill Sienkiewicz first made his splash.

Casey's back pages are entertaining as always, and while it's too bad that we won't be seeing more of Butcher, I'm curious to see what Casey has in store for us with his next series, titled simply Sex.

The Strain #1

Written by Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Hogan, and David Lapham
Art by Mike Huddleston

When I first heard about this project, a twelve-issue comics series featuring writing by David Lapham and art by Mike Huddleston, I was not very happy.  You would think I'd be over-joyed.  I have been a huge fan of Lapham for years, and have been very impressed with Huddleston over the last year, and yet, I was irritated.  Mostly, I was displeased because I don't see how Huddleston can work on this book and do the amazing job he's been doing on Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker with Joe Casey at Image.  I imagine this is going to be the higher paying gig (it has some big names and a marketing push attached to it after all), and I would like to see Mr. Huddleston's amazing art reach the widest possible audience, but I also want my Butcher.

Anyway, since this first issue is only a dollar, I thought I'd give it a shot.  It seems that filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (who I've never heard of) have written a trilogy of novels called The Strain that is pretty popular with people who read vampire novels. Now Lapham (man I wish this guy would draw something again) and Huddleston are adapting the story for comics.

This issue opens with an old woman telling her grandchild a story about a freakishly tall Polish nobleman who changes into some kind of creature of the night during a hunting trip to Romania.  The story then shifts to modern day New York, where an airplane has landed at JFK, and then gone dark and silent.  A team from the CDC is called out, where our main character, Ephraim, is one of the first to board the plane and discover that everyone on it save three are dead, although with no cause being visible.  Later, a creepy coffin is also removed from the plane, and I guess things are underway.

Having no familiarity with the source material, I can't speak to Lapham's accuracy with the plotting.  I can say that the story really started to draw me in, and that Huddleston's art is terrific.  It's a lot calmer than what he's been doing on Butcher Baker, and in some places it made me think of Bá and Moon (which is always a good thing).  As much as I didn't welcome new of this comic's existence, I think I'm interested enough to get the second issue.

Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker #6

Written by Joe Casey
Art by Mike Huddleston

What fun this comic is.  Butcher has been captured by Jihad Jones (great name), who is torturing him, finally being able to get his revenge for Butcher's part in the death of Jetboy, Jihad's former sidekick, and it is implied, life partner.  This death is shown to us through a flashback that looks like a 90s comic.

Those scenes are not the most interesting in this book though.  And while I like the parts with Arnie P. Willard, the cop that is chasing Butcher, even into his dreamstate, they aren't the best either.

The reason why you should read this comic is for the scene where Dick Cheney and Jay Leno get pulled in front of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to discuss their role in Butcher's destruction of the Crazy Keep.  It's a very funny scene, with Leno attempting to alleviate the mood.  Huddleston goes even more crazy on the art in this section than he has been all along.  He draws the military brass as having faces that are puddles of colour, sometimes looking more like demons than men.  Were Ralph Steadman to paint portraits in the Pentagon, they would look like this.

As always, the back matter is almost as good as the comic itself, as Casey writes about how he acquired comics throughout his childhood.  I'm sure I'm not the only person who felt a wave or two of nostalgia reading this.

Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker #5

Written by Joe Casey
Art by Mike Huddleston

There's a lot to like about the newest issue of Joe Casey's patriotic superhero grindhouse extravaganza, but I want to talk about the thing that stood out the most in this issue first.

Mike Huddleston's been doing a great job on this comic from the beginning, but in this issue, his colours really stood out as the best thing about the comic.  I don't normally notice the colouring first, but the fight scene is New York is made so lovely because of the way he makes everything look like it's happening at sunset.

The rest of the comic is great too.  Butcher finishes off the three villains that have attacked him, but not without gaining the enmity of the United States army.  This causes Butcher to have to go into hiding at a retirement resort for the powered set.  Poor Arnie, the highway patrol guy that's hunting him just misses him.

The comic is really very good, but Joe Casey's essays in the back are almost worth the purchase price alone.  This month he talks about the trailer to the Michael Keaton Batman movie (I must only be a couple of years younger than Casey, and remember the excitement of that summer very well), how a crazy non-fan reacted to Butcher Baker, and the info scroll technique he used in The Intimates.  Has it really been six years since that comic was published?  Man, I loved that title.  It hasn't even been collected I see - look for it in the quarter bins, it was great.  Stupid Wildstorm....

Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker #3

Written by Joe Casey
Art by Mike Huddleston

The last issue left me a little unsure about this series, but with this one, I'm back on board whole-heartedly.  Casey really find a balance this month between his principle characters - Butcher Baker (who is maybe not all that interesting except as a walking, talking plot device), Arnie B. Willard, the walking cliche of a small town cop that is chasing Butcher, and the super villains who are looking for revenge.

I think the most interesting character in this comic is Jihad Jones, who in this issue, breaks into Butcher's home/headquarters, and does some pretty nasty stuff.  He's got that wise psycho thing going for him, and its interesting to see how the other, more bumbling villains relate to him.

Willard is another great character, in his homespun aggression and blissful embrace of trashiness.  And that, of course, is the central concept of this comic as a whole - the embrace of trashiness.  Casey admits as much in his essay this month, which compares comics to junk food.  What makes this comic work is its self-knowledge, as Casey tries to outdo himself with wackiness and trash, while maintaining a structurally sound exploration of superheroes.

I don't think this comic would work without Mike Huddleston.  He employs a few different styles and art techniques while drawing this comic, and this helps keep things fresh and interesting on every page.

Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker #2

Written by Joe Casey
Art by Mike Huddleston

It's only been two weeks since this new, over-the-top series debuted, and we already get to read the second issue!  That's impressive, especially when you look at Casey's other 'monthly' book, the delay-plagued Godland.

Where the first issue of Butcher Baker was concerned with establishing Butcher's character and situation, this issue is mostly given over to the surviving members of his rogue's gallery, who are now free from their imprisonment.  We meet Jihad Jones, who has the potential to become a very interesting character, and a bunch of other standard super-villains, who so far don't seem too interesting.  There's also a cosmic hermaphrodite character who could fit just as well in Godland, and who seems to be manipulating the others.

The core of this book, to me at least, appears to be the growing conflict between Butcher and Arnie B. Willard, the local sheriff he ran of the road in the first issue, and now ends up sharing a drink with at a roadside eatery.  Picture Boss Hogg getting into a fight with the Comedian from The Watchmen, and you'll get the idea.  These scenes are pretty funny, but I found the villain scenes to be a little long.  It's Casey though, so he gets the benefit of the doubt for now.

Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker #1

Written by Joe Casey
Art by Mike Huddleston

You have to appreciate the role that Joe Casey plays in modern comics.  It's clear that he loves superhero comics, and in his work, he embraces them, with all their peculiarities and nonsense, with such a fervor that he creates stories that aren't so much satire as pure, unadulterated superheroics.  His new book, Butcher Baker, is to the gritty post-heroic 90s of the Watchmen, the Punisher, and Rick Veitch's Brat Pack what his Godland is to Jack Kirby.

Butcher Baker is a retired patriotic superhero (more Comedian than Captain America) who is brought out of retirement (by Dick Cheney and Jay Leno) to help clean up some loose ends.  He mostly spends his days having sex with multiple women, and drives a souped-up gigantic semi painted to look like the American flag.

Despite all appearances, it seems his life is kind of empty.  Or at least, that's what this issue hints at, but most of this comic is spent establishing his unique character.  It's a fun comic, and Huddleston does a great job of showing different eras in Baker's career.  I'm not sure if this is a mini-series or an on-going, but it seems interesting enough to get me to stick around for a while.