From Ren and Stimpy to Rick and Morty, our culture has had an insatiable lust for strange and weird comedic content. It’s often hard to find such material in comics (unless it’s one of those two properties), so when given the opportunity to review Goons of the Galaxy recently, I had to jump at it. It has a cartoony feel, but with a slight infusion of adult humor. Is it good?
Goons of the Galaxy #1
So what’s it about? According to the first page:
Jerry Jetflash is the coolest kid in the galaxy…but when he uses all the milk at breakfast (leaving none for his uncle Larp’s Space-Puffs) things go from bad to worse! At super-lightspeed!!
Why does this book matter?
It has a retro style that’s reminiscent of the Hanna Barbera cartoons (at least to me) with the flavor of The Jetsons. The digital style of art gives it a clean, sophisticated look that balances the silly humor nicely.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
Love those stars.
First and foremost this first issue is charming. It contains a very Saturday morning cartoon vibe, from the look and feel to the sidekick robot named Honko. Jerry Jetflash is simple in design, but with the occasional crazy eyes and wagging tongue Marc Jackson makes the character somewhat unhinged. The fact that plot revolves around getting milk for a very lizard looking uncle only makes the premise more endearing.
Each page is broken down into two panels which gives the read a comic strip feel. Though simple, the design of each page feels composed and well throughout and you gotta love the retro stars and other accoutrements on the page. There’s a nice change of color in the backgrounds throughout the book and it never feels slow or boring. The lettering is quite nice too, with seemingly random words changing size, capitalization, and even weight.
Most importantly the comic is good for a laugh. I can’t say I laughed at everything–some of the alliteration humor didn’t do it for me, but it’s certainly chuckle inducing if you’re up for it. While a bit of dialogue like, “He’ll have my nuts for a necklace” may not sound funny, match that to the art and situation in this comic and it’s actually quite cute.
It can’t be perfect can it?
The comic is only 14 pages or so minus the front and back cover and intro page, so it’s short to begin with. Add to that the face that each page only contains two panels and the read is downright brisk to say the least. If you’re coming for a robust story, or a ton of laughs, this isn’t it. You’ll be good for a few chuckles, but not much more. It’ll be cool to see this series collected once it’s all done.
I could see this series as a cartoon quite easily!
Is It Good?
Goons of the Galaxy #1 is a retro style story in an endearing and chuckle inducing package. It’s got a Saturday morning cartoon vibe that most will find infectious and well worth a read.
You can read it now in volume 23 of David Lloyd’s online comics anthology and it will continue in Volume 25, starting mid-November.
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