HEY,
MISTER: THE FALL COLLECTION
Top
Shelf Trade Paperback Review by: Troy
Brownfield
By: Peter Sickman-Garner
More information: www.topshelfcomix.com
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 I
first became aware of Peter Sickman-Garner's brutally funny
"Hey, Mister" when I reviewed the "Dial M for
Mister" installment last year. That issue rounds out
this collection, which also includes "Behind the Green
Door", "The Trouble with Jesus", and "Eyes
on the Prize". To top that off, Sickman-Garner also kicks
in some additional narration sequences. The whole package
emerges as gut-bustingly hilarious tour through a surreal
landscape that can simultaneously achieve introspection, crush
taboos, and entertain the hell out of you. It's great work.
The overall structure here is kind of diffuse. There are longer
stories and short sharp bits. One of my favorites is "Copyright
Infringement", which gleefully combines a certain sunbeam-loving
baby from the daily funnies and a giant magnifying glass.
Another short, "Game Time" (originally published
in a benefit anthology, Expo 2001) comes off as a riotous
take on car games. Sickman-Garner's true talent lies in his
ability to take the mundane and detonate it with skewed humor.
Standing as the real centerpiece of the book for me is the
sublime "The Trouble with Jesus". It's essentially
a satire of the corporate ladder as pin-headed Tim slides
into management for the Lord. The nuances of office politics
are bitingly familiar to anyone who's ever worked in the veal-pen
cubicle world, and the religious overtones about acceptance
and who gets stuck holding the cultural bag are incredibly
relevant. It's an amazing little morality play.
"The Fall Collection" demands the time and attention
of anyone who likes their comics intelligent, surreal, and
most of all, funny. If you hold your tastes to those criteria,
you really can't go wrong with "Hey, Mister".
Troy
Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. Top
Shelf offers both "The Hey, Mister Afterschool Special"
and "The Hey, Mister Celebrity Roast". Email Troy
at psikotyk@aol.com
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