I Luv Halloween, Vol 1

A Halloween themed manga written by Keith Giffen. I couldn't pass it up. And yet like a driver who picks up the hitchhiker from Hell, I kinda wish that I had kept on driving. 

I Luv Halloween has got to be the must inappropriate, goriest romp starring kids that I have ever read. Imagine the movie Gummo, if it was set during Halloween. (I really want to compare this with the film Kids. However, there's nowhere as much animal murder and cruelty in that controversial film compared to Gummo.)

The book is about a group of 4 boys as they go trick-or-treating. After getting apples at their first couple of houses, the boys decide to break the curse by putting razor blades in one of the fruits and unleash the unmitigated fury of the law on one of their stingy neighbors. Meanwhile, one of the boy's sisters has broken free from the group and has begun a reign of unintentional terror, killing the neighborhood bully, bludgeoning a cheerleader and her boyfriend and much, much more unspeakable acts. 

If I thought Giffen was trying to do a straight out horror story on par with Children of the Corn, I'd probably not feel like I need to take a shower just for writing this review. But the kids in the book do most of their gruesome acts with a sense of innocence. It's almost like the worst Murphy's law bad luck of all time following these kids and they just go through life not understanding just how destructive they are. Remember how Steve Urkel would ask 'did I do that?', whenever something went wrong? Well, these kids, for the most part, don't even know that they are doing terrible things. Well, the sister might. There's definitely something not quite right about her...

The artwork is by Benjamin Roman. At the time this book was published, in 2005, he was a relative newcomer with this being his very first professionally published work. His art style is extremely exaggerated. Roman would fit in quite well at MAD Magazine. I wonder what became of him...

This one isn't a keeper for me. I wasn't a huge fan of it. There's a lot going on that I'm not even sure happened or not as several of kids are not very reliable narrators. And yet, there's 2 more volumes and I just need to find out what is true and what is the fever dreams of a group of horny preteens. Plus I just need to know what is wrong with the sister. She just not quite right in the head.

Not the coming of age tale you'd feel comfortable sharing with your kids or grand kids. I fact, if you didn't feel uncomfortable after reading this book I'd think something might be wrong with you...

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars.

Auntie Agatha's Home for Wayward Rabbits

It’s getting harder and harder to determine if a new series is all-ages friendly or not. Case in point is today’s Family Comic Friday review, Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits. Being published by Image Comics should have been my first guess that the book wasn’t suited for all. But it’s written by Justice League legend, Keith Giffen. And it has bunnies!

I could have decided to not review this book under the FCF tagline. But then I remembered that there’s many, many classics that the whole family enjoy even though not rated for all. Examples of this are Star Wars, E.T., Harry Potter and the films of DC and Marvel. So, let’s take a look at this home for wayward bunnies…

Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #1
Written by Keith Giffen
Art by Benjamin Roman with additional art by Chris Sears
Published by Image Comics

Auntie Agatha is actually rated Teen. But I didn’t even know the rating until I got to the back cover. Comic Books are not known for having relevant information about the story like the back of a regular book. Generally there’s an ad for Hostess Twinkies or bodybuilding with Charles Atlas. In other words, I forgot that Image likes to put artwork and the rating on the back of their comics.

Wayward Rabbits is about a young girl named Julie. She is the caretaker of her aunt’s preserve for special needs rabbits. One such coney has OCD. Another has trouble speaking unless it’s in jumbled forms of TV ads. Meanwhile, the guard dog wears a bunny mask, trying to get in touch with his inner rabbit.

The story starts with Julie dealing with a another resident of the refuge, Sawyer. This rabbit has some anger issues. This time, Sawyer is tired of being served the same old rabbit food. So Julie shows him the alternative and opens the bunnies eyes to a secret conspiracy... And a crazy rat!

The first issue ends on a cliffhanger with a pair of odd twins visiting the home. They wish to meet with Auntie Agatha, who has been absent so far from the entire story. What is the secret to Auntie Agatha’s whereabouts? And how will this affect Julie and the rabbits of the facility?

Aside from Stan Lee, writer Keith Giffen was responsible for crafting a large chunk of my childhood. A DC guy, Giffen wrote and created such characters the Ambush Bug, The Legion of Substitute Heroes and the epic 1987 retooling of the Justice League. Giffen’s style is off-the-wall, zany and down right bizarre. It’s no wonder why I have turned out the way I have. This new series from Giffen and Benjamin Roman is no different from his other creations.

As for the artist, Benjamin Roman, I am not familiar with him at all. His art style has touches of Frank Quitely (Jupiter Rising). Roman has an amazing eye for the littlest details But his drawing of humans is similar to that of those Disney Pixar films. It doesn’t quite look right.
As for the age appropriateness of this book. The first about 20 pages are fine. Then you’ve got two swears. They’re not big ones but they are there. There’s also one panel of very shocking violence. It’s about the level of that in Oliver Twist. But it’s against a child and could warrant a discussion with young readers.

Auntie Agatha is funny. There’s some great one liners in this book. The characters are fleshed out quite well for a first issue. Plus, I am really interested in knowing what happens next in issue #2. But it’s not for everyone. I’d say you could safely allow the right readers of about the age of 10 at the youngest to read this. However, if the young reader in your life is at the right level of maturity, then I highly recommend you open your hearts up to these little bunnies in need of a good home!

Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #1 debuted in print and digital platforms on Wednesday, November 7th.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.