Axe Cop, Volume 3

I really enjoy this extremely bizarre but tons o' fun series. Illustrated by Ethan Nicolle, the art is very clean and very iconic. The stories are the stuff of imagination. The imagination of a young 5-year old child; Ethan's brother, Malachi. 

But like I told the owner of the comic book store in which I bought this collection, this series isn't going last forever. After a while, Malachi is going to get older and he's not going want to keep coming up with stories full of potty humor, axe wielding officers of the peace, and tons of other really silly stories. And I think I might be right about this.

Doing a search, there's not been a new Axe Cop series published since 2014. Going on to the Axe Cop website where this series began as a web comic, there hasn't been any new work added since September of last year.

This collection of shorts includes a number of Ask Axe Cop vignettes in which AC gives really bad advice. Plus, there's a fantastic crossover with another one of my favorite all-time web comics- Dr. McNinja! 

Are Axe Cop's best days behind him? I hope not because I am such a fan of this series. But I would completely understand if the end of Axe Cop is at hand. Though if in about 15 years, Axe Cop returns with Malachi Noelle being the illustrator and Ethan's young son or daughter becomes the next mastermind of the Axe Cop universe, that would be so cool.

Talk about things going around in full circle. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Axe Cop, Volume 2: Bad Guy Earth

   When an evil planet appears in the sky, ready to wipe out the earth, it's just the beginning of another epic madcap adventure starring Axe Cop and friends. Menacing twins, dinosaurs vs. alien invaders, a terrifying witch that rides a gorilla that rides a lion, zombies, evil doppelgangers, and wishing grant unicorn horns are just some of the most bizarre elements in this the second volume of Axe Cop. From the mind of a 6-year-old genius-in-training and his 20-something older brother, Malachai & Ethan Nicolle, expect the unexpected. 

    Now if this was something published by DC or Marvel I would rip it a new one in my review. But this book was designed as an experiment to see just how in-depth of a story could a 6-year old craft. With that in mind, I would say that this test was a success. 

   You can't expect a child to write Shakespeare. They don't have the attention span to see a story get from point A to point Z without about 500 tangents. Thankfully, big bro Ethan kept Malachi on task. for the most. But man, does that little guy have an imagination! And man, can older brother draw!!! (Thought why his intelligent rabbit folk look like those Rabbids video game characters are intentional or not is up for debate.)

   Axe Cop has made me laugh every since I got my hands on the first volume almost 5 years ago. Then when we got the short-lived but oh so great Axe Cop cartoon starring Nick Offerman as the voice of the hero. And I was hooked!!!  Now, I can't see Offerman without thinking 'AXE COP' but I also can't read Axe Cop without hearing Offerman's deep soothing voice. 

    If you are a fan of totally insane webcomics like Doctor McNinja then this is the series for you. Plus, since it's written by a child, kids and adults will delight. One caveat- this book is written by a child;, so expect some gross humor and lots of violence. Not gory, but definitely not safe either.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Axe Cop Halloween ComicFest 2012 Exclusive Mini-Comic (Family Comic Friday)

Click Here to Find a Store Participating in the 2014 Halloween ComicFest

So when is a Halloween Comic not a Halloween comic and yet still a Halloween comic? When it’s a ComicFest freebie! A new event has been popping up the Saturday before Halloween and its gaining steam. You probably know about free comic book day. It takes place the first Saturday in May and comic book shops and publishers nationwide use this event as a way to garner business by offering free comics.

Well, for a collector like me 12 months is a long time to wait. So, the industry has adopted Halloween as the perfect half-way point to gain interest in the medium.

Halloween ComicFest, which is Saturday October 25^th this year, is more of a kids event However, the brain child of Gemstone Publishing and Diamond Distributions allows fans ranging from ages 1-101 can go into  their favorite comic book shop and receive some free Halloween themed comics. Whereas free comic book day gives away dozens upon dozens of free titles, there are usually only about 20 comics offered during the Halloween event. But the number is growing. Why in 2010, you only had 3 or 4 titles to choose from. As ComicFest gains in popularity, the number of titles is sure to grow.

So let’s talk Axe Cop. It was a 2012 offering for ComicFest. Axe Cop may seem violent and it is. But it’s also quite insane. The premise is that a cop while investigating a fire found the perfect axe and turned into a macho cop who chops the head off of bad guys with the help of his partner, Flute Cop and a T-Rex with machine guns for arms.

Axe Cop was the idea of a 5 year old and his 29-year old brother. Malachai Nicolle would come up with these insane adventures when playing with his toys. Older bro Ethan, an aspiring cartoonist, decided to transcribe these adventures and turned them into a web comic aptly titled Axe Cop.

I first learned of Axe Cop about 3 years ago. I feel in love with the back story and thought that this insanity was shear brilliance. Last year, Axe Cop became a short-lived cartoon series on Fox (Hi-Def Animation Domination). It was aged a little bit, but most of the stories from this comic were used in that series and they’re pretty similar. Just because this series is written by a now 8 or 9-year old, that doesn’t mean that the other cartoons that aired with Axe Cop were all-age friendly. And like anything from the mind of a child, there’s plenty of potty humor and skewed views of the world we live in.

While there are zombies, dinosaurs, aliens, and monsters, and it was given away from a Halloween comic event, this is not a ‘Halloween’ comic book. None of the events take place during the eve of All Saints. There isn’t any trick-or-treating and there aren’t any pumpkins, candy, or apple bobbing.

Just about all of the comics given away during ComicFest are not Halloween-themed. (Most are also reprints of other comics and that’s my only complaint about the Axe Cop mini-comic.) But there are plenty of spooks, monsters, and aliens to make these comics the perfect alternative to candy.

This year, Comicfest is doing something different. Whereas the free comics were only available through stores, people can order these spooky comics in packs of 20 for about $4 to use as a healthier alternative to candy for trick-or-treaters. I love this idea. As a former educator, I’ve given out puzzles and play-doh instead of candy. The kids love the surprise of getting something to play with for their ‘treat.’ This year, I’ll be giving away free ComicFest Comics to the kids that come to my door this October 31^st. I’m sure the kids will love it just and I know the parents will love me for not adding more sugar to their kids pumpkin pails.

For Family Comic Friday next week, I’ll examine a Halloween special that stars Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, and more classic Disney princesses but isn’t for kids! Come on back October 10^th as we look at some Halloween books that look kid friendly but are more risqué than a year’s worth of Victoria Secrets catalogues.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Adventures of Dr. McNinja, volume 2: Timefist

Well, it didn’t take very long for me to return to the strange world of Dr. McNinja. Part ninja, part doctor, all Irish (?)- and completely insane, in this volume Doctor McNinja experiences a number of space/time continuum bending adventures. First, The McNinja family has their annual battle with a clan of pirates and we learn the not-so terrible secret behind how McNinja was able to obtain a degree in every field. Then McNinja and a time-travelling clone of the mayor must hi-jack a space shuttle to prevent sentient dinosaurs from outer space from retaking control of the earth. Lastly, McNinja and the mayor clone end up in an alternate time-line in the future, during which said space dinosaurs have ruled the world with an iron stumpy fist for 2 decades.

 

While I very much enjoyed this volume and hope to get my hands on more titles in the future, this volume wasn’t quite as good as the first. The biggest problem was that there was a lot of references to works I hadn’t read yet. Dr. McNinja has been a web series for years and those stories have been reprinted before. Yet, Dark Horse Comics has only published 2 volumes; neither of which contain any of the stories that Christopher Hastings references to in his editorial comments.

 

Also making this story not quite as good as the first is the quantum mechanics of the plot. I love time travel and alternate timeline stories. These tales are very good. However, they may be a little too good. One thing that makes me a fan of Doctor Who is the Timey-Wimey/ Wibbly-Wobbly nature of time travel- meaning time can be rewritten. In this series, time can’t be rewritten, thus if someone travels in time, they create parallel universes, much like Marty does in Back to the Future (parts 1, 2, and 3- but mostly 2.) There’s even a chart in the last story that makes some of the timeline confusion involve a little less head scratching. It helps, but it’s a lot of information to keep straight.

 

Lastly, I want to give kudos to the short story at the end of this volume. I mentioned in my review of volume 1 that Dr. McNinja reminds me so much of Axe Cop, that I heard Axe Cop’s voice when McNinja talks. Well, in this book, I’m hearing double as McNinja and Axe Cop meet for a tale that involves pizzas that turn it’s eaters into blobbish mutants. No, this isn’t an allegory for the obesity problem in America in relation to fast food. Well, it might be, but I think it was unintentional. The team-up was also and I hope the two heroes of the bizarre will reunite real soon. Hopefully, the big-wigs at Fox will take note and add Dr. McNinja to their Animation Domination line-up on Saturday nights. (As well as renew Axe Cop for some new episodes.)

 

Worth Consuming.

 

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja volume 1: Night Powers

 

Holey Mol-ey! Am I in love with the one web comic in world history to star an Irish Ninja physician! Dr. McNinja is all three things rolled into one and his world is totally insane. Helping McNinja save the world from evil is his gorilla secretary, Judy and his 12-year old sidekick, Gordito, a cowboy that rides a velociraptor and bears a full mustache.

 

If this series seems completely nuts, it is! There’s definite elements of the Tick, Deadpool, and Supernatural Law. But the comic that is the most like Dr. McNinja is another classic web series known as Axe Cop! This series isn’t written by a six-year old. But when I read McNinja speck, I hear Axe Cop’s voice in my head. (Axe Cop is also an animated feature on Fox and is voiced by the epic Nick Offerman of Parks and Rec.

 

Adding to the craziness are the tiny blurbs on the bottom on each page by series creator Christopher Hastings. They’re like a director’s cut for the absurd.

 

I found this book at my local library. I love that place. I am so glad that they had this book as well as a second volume in the series, which I look forward to eagerly. I have only read one book so far, yet Dr. McNinja has already become not only one of my favorite independent comics, but one of my favorite comics series of all-time. Fantastically bizarre stuff.

 

Worth Consuming.

 

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.