Comic review: Our Friend Satan (the first seventeen pages)- A review of a Kick-Starter Project

Read comic here:
http://ourfriendsatan.com/comics/


Kick-Starter Page:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/imagomedia/our-friend-satan-graphic-novel



Why would Satan be depressed in 2015? The west has gone secular/atheist and the middle east is a Hell on earth with the west bombing it and funding, arming and training Sunni Muslims (ISIS) terrorists in order to take control of any country that is not part of neo-liberal western hegemony. Throw in the Ukraine and the western intervention there, and you have a world of chaos, no Christian God in sight, demonic Sunni Muslims beheading people on the daily news and a refugee crisis that gets worse by the hour.

A spooky beginning.

No, Satan wouldn’t be depressed, he’d be bloody, hellishly delighted. Satan has won, he was right, God was wrong. Humanity is dumber than ever, they cannot stop murdering each other, and millions of people don’t even believe in the immortality of the soul, and have been taught that humanity is nothing more than a bunch of over evolved monkeys that live, breed, fight and die. This is what Satan said in the very beginning. He argued that humanity was unworthy of the gift of life that was bestowed from the creator, and who would argue with him now?

That leads me to this kick-starter Graphic novel titled, ‘Our Friend Satan.’ The concept is that Satan is depressed. That intrigues me. How do you write a book where Satan is depressed when all you have to do is look around you to see that things couldn’t really be going better for the old red devil? What is going on here? I have to know more.

Let’s take a look.

The book begins with an evocation to the Devil, the art is very cuddly, the Devil appears, and he’s just an old, bald bloke in slippers. He's depressed because the Catholic Church are making him out to be far scarier than he actually is. Okay then, it’s not going to be a serious book. Instead it’s a book that’s going for laughs. The art is great by the way, very colourful, very professional, top drawer really, and a lot better than quite a lot of the haphazardly thrown together deadline chasing material that you get in Marvel and DC.

Then the Devil shows up, and the tone is set.

The setting is the future, so there’s no mention of anything contemporary, so scrub any mention of what is going on in Syria and Libya right now. That’s a good way to avoid controversy, and I don’t really like it.

I see it all of the time in mainstream comic books with characters like Captain America being sent to different dimensions where he can safely beat up some alien Nazi’s or something safe, thus ensuring that he doesn’t have to deal with the contemporary US foreign policy of arming terrorists and invading countries in order to maximise profits for western banks and corporations.

Captain America should say something about US corporate imperialism, but as long as he is safely hidden away in BattleWorld, he doesn’t have to.

I see the same thing happening here in ‘Our Friend Satan,’ but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad comic. It’s a safe comic, and the villains are the future Catholic Church, so yep, it’s the Christians again who are getting it, and that’s disappointing, but not surprising. In this neo-liberal world of corporate consensus you are allowed to criticise the Catholic Church, to mock them, to make them look silly, or evil, and you’ll get no pushback at all.

The villains in the book are the Catholic Church.

If you mock Islam or Judaism then you’ll be in a whole heap of trouble, so comic book creators prefer to play it safe and leave them alone and attack and mock the one religion that it’s safe to mock. That religion is Christianity, the religion of the dying west, the religion that has been demolished by secular atheism and is currently being demolished by US backed Islamic terrorists in the middle east.

All of the villains in ‘Our Friend Satan’ are white, middle-aged men. That’s also something that you are allowed to do in 2015. What you don’t do is have women, or women of colour, or homosexual women of colour (that would be the worst thing to do) as villains. Keep the villains white, middle-aged, male and straight, and you’ll be okay with the PC brigade. Does that annoy me? It used to, but now, it just bores me, and tells me that the writer and artist are obediently ‘progressive’ in their world-views. I don’t hate it. I expect it.

‘Our Friend Satan’ then is a happy, colourful, playful, funny, well-drawn, cosy, PC, neo-liberal book about a comedy Satan and a cartoon evil future Catholic Church, in space. It’s not terrible, but it’s not really my thing. Lots of comic book readers will love it, and who am I to shoot it all down? I wish the creators all the luck in the world, and if you enjoy cute and cuddly comic books that come from the neo-liberal, progressive centre of what you are allowed to say in contemporary comedy, throw them a couple of quid, as I’m sure you’ll love it.


Rating: 5/10 (Politically correct neo-liberal consensus comedy book that features superior artwork)

Graphic novel review: Sergio Aragones’ Groo: ‘The Hogs of Horder’- It’s the end of the world, and I feel fine

By: Sergio Aragones
Wordsmith: Mark Evanier
Letterer: Stan Sakai
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Released: August 2010


On the surface this book is about a big old twit of a man (Groo) and his funny little dog (Rufferto) as they travel around the world causing chaos and mayhem whether they go, having fights, destroying factories (or wherever they work) and sinking every ship that they sail on. That’s the surface, but what this big old twit of a man actually represents is random chaos and the likelihood that what can go wrong will go wrong. It’s the reaction of the people around them to these disasters that’s telling. The catastrophes that befall them in ‘The Hogs Of Horder’ sound very familiar to me. Here’s what I spotted.

- USA entering a period of truce with China after the civil war and eventual victory of Mao Zedong’s Communist party in October 1949.
- USA beginning to outsource it’s manufacturing base to China, in order to cut costs of wages.
- USA seeing beginning of mass unemployment caused by this policy of outsourcing.
- The idiocy of the US car industry, insisting on making big cars that nobody wants, or can even afford as the jobs have now all been outsourced.
- Managers and executives of US corporations caring only about their own inflated salaries, and not thinking about their workers.
- US industry thinking they can solve problems caused by their outsourcing policies by borrowing money from bankers.
- Business owners deliberately destroying their businesses in order to apply for loans.
- US going to war in order to protect the business interests of their wealthy elite. Justifying it by calling the dictator that they themselves installed, a ‘Despicable Madman,’ even though he was a valuable ally just a week previously.
- Ridiculous propaganda used to justify these wars for the rich.
- The continued idiocy of the US car manufacturing industry, insisting that customers want something that they neither want, nor can afford.
- Products flooding western markets cannot even be purchased as nobody has any money to buy them.
- Bankers stop giving out loans, as they are not being repaid.
- US industry destroyed by outsourcing, with the knock-on affect of unemployment and businesses not being able to repay their loans to the banks.
- Banks go belly up, and get bailed out by US government.
- Big businesses also go belly up, and are bailed out by US government.
- US government backs itself up with wars for resources.
- US wars cause tribal battles between competing religious factions (Sunni/Shiaa) in the countries that have been liberated/destroyed.

- US war propaganda makes less and less sense as reality kicks in.

- Price of oil for normal people does not go down, despite all of the wars that were based on oil.
- US begins to borrow money from China.
- Refugees from war-zones start to flee to US in order to escape from the tribal conflicts stirred up by the US invasions.
- Huge problems in US, the public looks for scapegoats, and immigrants are blamed.
- Banks are charging huge interest rates for loans, and average people are still broke despite government bailouts of banks and industry.
- People can’t afford homes.
- Or anything really.
- There are no jobs.
- Wages are going down because of immigration and influx of cheap labour.
- Army/Police is sent in to beat up the people, ‘I am only following orders Mother.’
- Sports and theatre are used as distractions in order to pacify an angry population.
- US goes to China asking for loans.
- China, scared of the US war machine, and eager to get Americans to buy their goods, agrees to loan US the money.
- Loaned money goes to the people who caused all of the problems, not the suffering people.
- Average US people still broke.
- Wealth inequality grows.
- China buys up everything of value in the US.
- China now owns the US.
- The end of the United States.
- Centralised control system of wealthy elite’s operating out of China own everything and everybody.
- A New World Order?

That sounds pretty depressing doesn’t it? It’s the tale of the decline of an entire country, and we’re not just talking about the US here, we’re talking about all of Europe as well. An entire western civilisation collapsing because of stupidity, greed, war and debt. All to be replaced by a Chinese system of centralised control system slavery. That’s not the future, it’s what’s happening right now, but this book ends on an optimistic note. It leaves the reader with a final message that, yes we are collapsing, but just because we are coming to the end, that doesn’t mean that we can’t begin to start again. And how do we start again? We do things on a local level, we start our own businesses, learn skills, and trade with each other on a local level.

It’s a great way to finish the book, giving real solutions to the mess that the world is currently in. It’s not the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new one, so let’s do a better job this time. You don’t have to join the armies of this collapsing system, you don’t have to join their control systems, and you don’t have to go to them with a begging bowl, like a servant, like a slave. You can do things for yourself. Stop being reliant, and start being independent and self-sufficient.

That’s what I took from this daft comic book about a big old twit of a man and his funny little dog. It’s a fantastic achievement to have so much content and real world analysis in what is ostensibly a silly little comic book. This book really is outstanding. Funny, silly, ridiculous ‘The Hogs of Horder’ is as good an analysis of the causes for the impending collapse of western civilisation as you’re likely find not just in a comic book, but in any book.

Rating: 10/10 (The decline, decline and fall of western civilisation)

Theatre review: Shady Business (Swindon Arts centre)- A jaw achingly funny show

Theatre Company: The Western Players
Writer: Robin Hawdon
Location: The Arts Centre, Old Town, Swindon, Wilts
Date of Performance: Wednesday 11th March 2015
Future performances: Thursday 12th March, Friday 13th March and Saturday 14th March 2015
Click link for ticket information:
https://swindontheatres.co.uk/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=E4AAB139-C653-4641-A2BC-5CF400E410A4


Shady Business was so funny, so silly, so daft and so bewilderingly ridiculous that it left me with severe jaw ache by the end of the show.

I can’t even remember the last time that something made me laugh so much that my jaw hurt, but that’s what happened to me tonight. I wasn’t expecting this play to be so funny, so I guess it caught me unawares, and my poor old jaw still hasn’t quite recovered.

I’m not even going to discuss the plot, the acting, the scenery or anything else about this play. All I’m going to do is offer a warning.

That warning is for anybody who intends to see the show in the next three days, and here it is. Before the show begins you need to do some serious jaw exercises in preparation for what you are going to see.

I’m not messing around here. This is a serious warning. If you are going to see this show then you need to properly prepare yourself. Much like the beginning of strenuous exercise you need to prepare your body properly for the experience, but rather than stretching your calves and hamstrings it’s your jaw muscles that need to be properly prepared.

Here’s my expert advice- Open your mouth as wide as it can go, then relax, open again, and repeat. Then scrunch to the left, scrunch to the right and relax. By repeating these exercises shortly before the beginning of the show your jaw should be properly warmed up and ready for action. Do this (and don’t forget to repeat the exercises during the mid-show interval as well) and you should be okay, but ignore my warning and expect severe jaw ache by the end of the show.

You might be thinking that this is a bit of a strange review, and you would be absolutely correct in thinking that way because this isn’t a review at all. No, this is actually a public service warning to anybody who intends to see Shady Business in the Swindon Arts Centre over the next three days. I feel it’s my duty to put out this warning, because boy my jaw hurts now, and I’d hate to see anybody else make the same mistake that I made.


Rating: 10/10 (A very funny, very enjoyable show)

Review: The Goon-One For The Road- A mildly amusing diversion

Writer: Eric Powell
Artist: Eric Powell
Publisher: Dark Horse
Released: 25th June 2014


There’s not a lot you can say about this one really. It’s on my pull-list, and it comes out very infrequently, but when it does eventually arrive I always get a bit of a giggle out of it.

The previous book, about a Spanish critter, was a lot funnier than this one, but this was okay. It was a one-shot about a sailor losing his friend on shore leave, worrying that he was going to get in trouble, and going from bar to bar with the Goon and his buddy Franky in an attempt to find his friend.

Whilst doing so they run into the usually assortment of wacky Eric Powell characters that you would expect them to run into. The funniest character being a large man eating World World 1 era German army Gorilla and his two handlers in a Red Baron type aeroplane. If that sounds pretty wacky, then it’s because it is pretty wacky. That’s what you get in a Goon book. However, there was something about this book that was a bit too safe, a bit too formulaic, a bit too Eric Powell going through the motions for me to get all that excited about it. It was okay, but he’s done a lot better.

There’s nothing here for me to get my teeth into as everything is set in a safe comedy past of old Frank Sinatra movies about World War 1. There’s no contemporary socio-political commentary, and nothing for the liberal thought Police to get their knickers in a twist about.

That’s a shame, because I love it when the feminist liberals expose themselves by calling for censorship on something that doesn’t conform to what they think is allowable in comedy. That’s the best comedy. Something of its time, taking a much-needed swipe at contemporary concerns and hypocrisies. You get none of that here, so even with the wackiest of characters and funniest of lines it’s not going to be a top-notch comedy book.

Don’t listen to other reviewers telling you this comedy is in any way rebellious, dark or twisted, because it isn’t. This is very safe comedy. This is thought Police approved comedy that the liberal elite’s are quite happy for you to consume.

Eric Powell is a decent artist, so I have no complaints about his over the top funny and grotesque depictions. Like most artists who write their own books, it’s perfect for the tone of the writing. However, this issue of The Goon reads like something he could knock out in his sleep. It’s not a bad book; it just seems a bit, well irrelevant really. It’s a decent distraction, but as I’ve previously mentioned, because it’s comedy set in the safe cinematic past it’s never going to be anything more than a silly little distraction, designed to make you giggle.

I understand that the Goon is not supposed to represent life in 2014, but it’s written in 2014, so there should be something here that shows the writer is at least aware of contemporary concerns and issues. There is nothing here to suggest that Eric Powell is aware or even cares about anything that is happening now.

This book could have been written in 1960. I know a lot of people will be okay with that, but not me. I don’t live in 1960. I live in 2014, and lots of things are going on. I want to see the world reflected in my comic books. I don’t care if I disagree with the writer’s point of view, but when he doesn’t even have one I find it difficult to engage with the comic/book/movie/music. The world outside your window exists. Call me strange, but why not reflect some of it in your writing?

Back to this particular book. I had a couple of giggles with it, but not as many as usual. It was okay, but I’m not kidding myself. I’m a big Eric Powell fan, and he was quite obviously going through the motions a bit here. Something about sailors and a bar crawl? Yeah, that will do. Rating: 7/10