New Pompeii

The cover of the latest NP has a man strangling a very upset Richie Rich with the caption “stinky rich” complete with the classic Richie Rich layout and fonts. The man is yelling (“BUY MY #$*@ COMIC!”) The hapless Richie replies (“I don’t carry cash.”) The first half of the zine is another installment of the Mayakovsky bio/comic which is very dense and very thorough but I can’t think of any comic based on a dead poet so Hind surely gets points for concept and originality. It’s a neat spin on tracing the development of the poet, whether it’s Mak’s diary-like passages or his rants in public, his words and world are given new light as he climbs a streetlight yelling (“a bald-patled street lamp, blatant, lascivious, pulls off the streets black stocking.”) When was the last time you heard Spiderman say that whilst climbing a streetpost? This is an important statement, I think, about appreciating the roots of literature, and presenting them in a form we’ll understand because we’re so damn lazy. Hind should be commended for his attempts to educate. For those who are fans of Jay the Blind Jaywalker, he’s back in many forms including Jay and the Siamese twin, Jay the Amputee, Shy Jay, Jay the Amputee Capitalist, Jay the Role Playing Game, Double Jeopardy (“I’ll take Blind Men for $1000, Alex”). You get the idea. As well as two short Cain & Abel cartoon in which the two fight over jumping their mama. Then a sheep. (“I want to shag mom…me first! No! Me!”). Plus a kareoke Batman (singing R.E.M.’s “Superman” cover). A very eclectic and entertaining oddity. (NGM)

comic, #27, 36 pgs, $2, Michael J. Hind, Caterpillar Press, 9-385 Rue Eduoard-Charles, Montreal, Quebec, H2V 2N1

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