Bad Dog #2

Written by Joe Kelly
Art by Diego Greco

Two issues in, and I'm undecided about this book. Certain things I love: Lou is a great and intriguing character who is shown to have more complexity than anything else in the book; the bail bondswoman is hilarious, if seriously pushing the boundaries of good taste; and I like the growing threat of Mr. Baker, the other big bounty hunter in town.

What I can't stand though, is Wendell, Lou's sidekick. I find much of his shtick to be juvenile and annoying. I think that this character is the least plausible in the book (and that's saying a lot), and ultimately, not very funny.

Because I find this character so off-putting, I'm not sure if I'll continue with this series, and I'd like to. I'm curious to find out what the deal is with the head in the fridge, and to learn more about Lou's unhappiness and what the thing with the milk cartons is. Also, I like watching Nazis getting abused. This is a genuinely funny comic, but for that one single mis-step, which I'm not sure I can get past.

Bad Dog #1

Written by Joe Kelly
Art by Diego Greco

Apparently, the new rule is that all Man of Action Studios affiliated comics coming out this week have to start with a car breaking down somewhere in Arizona. I just thought I'd point that out.

This is the beginning of a new series by Joe Kelly, a writer known for both sophisticated stories (the recently completed I Kill Giants being the best possible example of that), and over-the-top humour (Deadpool). Bad Dog is about a bounty hunter who is also a werewolf, and his nasty drunken sidekick. It's a good premise, and is handled very well here. It seems people either react to Lou, the werewolf, with horror, non-chalance, or sexual curiosity, in different degrees. Wendel, the side-kick, tends to only draw reactions of disgust and pity.

This is a big, chunky first issue, clocking in at 40 pages, and Kelly uses the space to show that there is a lot of potential for this series to last a while. We get introduced to a rival bounty hunting outfit, the mystery of why Lou won't revert to human, some on-going discussion of missing children on milk cartons, and what could be a talking severed head that is kept in the refrigerator. All of this is rolled out at a decent pace. The humour in the book reminds me of a lot of Garth Ennis's work - it can get a little nasty, but is also hilarious in places.

The art, by Diego Greco (that has to be a pseudonym, right?), is very nice. His werewolf looks very dog-like (a great test of a comic artist is to see if they can draw dogs - there's a lengthy blog post in there somewhere, if only I had a scanner), and his people are expressive. The colours on the book are gorgeous.

I'm on board with this new title, and I hope it gets a good-sized run.