There’s something special about the way this comic offends. Many of Montreal’s comic artists like gross images, drawn highly stylized or with a style designed to offend. This one’s more in the tradition of EC Comics, with its realistically-drawn comic style. And Chris Deno is definitely a talented comic artist in the traditional vein. The opener, “Ugly Words” reads like a great punk song. Other short themed strips work well, like “Clockwork”, which uses plays on words with the time displayed on a clock. There are several fun strips where he puts new dialogue in the word balloons of old snack and toy ads from mainstream comics. His own superhero character Snowflake appears near the end, and there’s a real curveball in the form of a poetic autobiographical strip where the author ends up killing himself. This title only promises to be annual, but you can check out Chris’s stuff more regularly in Quebec’s monthly compendium of more traditionally drawn comics, Mensuhell. (Louis Rastelli)
comic, $2, Chris Deno, 157 Pascal, Chateauguay, QC, J6K 4V9