When I was about 10, I wanted to start selling comics at the flea market. The idea lasted long enough for me to order a hundred comics for like $25 from an ad in a comic book whose memory has long since been forgotten. I then went to the flea market, put all the books in a box for a $1 apiece and quickly got bored as nobody showed any interest. I didn’t even make it an entire weekend. By late Saturday, the get rich quick scheme was a pipe dream and I spent the rest of the weekend in my cousins’ pool. Needless to say the comics became a part of my collection.
It
was because of that “grab bag” of books that I first came across Ambush Bug. I
first thought that this comic was about the Son of Ambush Bug. Then I kept
reading the word “Ambush” as Amish”- I still can’t figure out how or why. But,
reading about the offspring of a retired (or dead) super hero who drove a buggy
in Pennsylvania Dutch country just didn’t interest me and it sat buried in my
collection until somebody came along and stole my collection.
Flash
forward decades later and I’ve got Son of Ambush Bug in my collection again.
Only this time, I meant for it to be there. I feel in love with the character
thanks to my reading of 52 and the Countdown spin-off mini. I later got the
first mini-series and the Stocking Stuffer and my love for the absurd and oh so
surreal super-hero was cemented.
The
title “Son of Ambush Bug” is supposed to be a rip on bands in the 60s that
would title their follow-up albums as “Son of…” Though, I don’t think that
answer, which is given in the letters page at the end of this issue, is all
that accurate. In this series, a villain that has the ability to change the reality
of comic book characters steals Ambush Bug’s beloved doll-child, Cheeks. The
cherubic Cheeks is turned into a gritty parody of War comics and retitled
Cheeks: Combat Medic.
The
disappearance of Cheeks leads the Ambush Bug on a cosmic retooling session that
would’ve left the Crisis on Infinite Earths spinning on its ear, if it had an ear.
Along the way, Ambush Bug shifts realities becoming a Japanese Kaiju hunter, a
PI, and the target of a secret organization that doesn’t like the fact that AB
knows he’s a fictional character existing in a comic book universe.
The
book has promise. It’s not a good as the first mini-series. However, I found
myself laughing aloud often. The art is rough. It’s slightly early Keith Giffen
and that doesn’t reflect his best work. But, I don’t read Ambush Bug for the
art. Okay, maybe I do a little.
Worth
Consuming.
Rating:
8 out of 10 stars.
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