Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: James Robinson
Artist: Gregg Hinkle
Colourist: Gregg Hinkle
Release date: Out Now
Price: $2.99

 

Airboy #1 is the funniest comic book of the year. James Robinson gets introspective and transforms Airboy #1into a mix of Harvey Pekar and Hunter S. Thompson. Gonzo comic books?

The jokes fly as fast as Robinson’s Starman. The first words out of his mouth are, “I f***ing hate Airboy” (warning, adult language permeates the script). Robinson spends every page commiserating. “I’m not happy and I don’t know why” Robinson says. “I hate being at DC right now…They rarely read my books as it is unless I’m killing Batman or some s**t.”

In contrast James Robinson portrays Image Publisher Eric Stephenson as a hipster executive, in his penthouse office, where Stephenson parks his Vespa, overlooking San Francisco Bay. “Don’t be an asshole,” Stephenson tells Robinson.

Robinson’s mix of commentary, personality and some drugged-fuelled intellectualism makes Airboy’s engines fire on multiple cylinders. The depraved writer is both fascinating and repulsive simultaneously. James Robinson is like the weird uncle nobody wants to acknowledge but everybody wants to love.

Gregg Hinkle’s art is stylish and fluid, but drawn with tight lines. Hinkle’s monochromatic colouring only breaks rank when a surprise character shows up in the last panel, creating a contrast as effective as the Wizard of Oz does with Dorothy’s first look at that particular fantasy landscape.

Once again James Robinson has us hooked. Airboy #1 is unlike traditional comic book fare and are we glad? Do bears s**t in the woods?

Reviewer: Joe Lovece
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker